Utterly Unnoticeable
by Her Awesomeness
Summary: Everyone wants to be remembered, to leave their mark on this world, an eternal impact. To be noticed, liked and accepted. A forever. I think that's just plain stupid. Why dream of a forever, in a world where even life is temporary? Highschool AU, OOC characters
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson, or the characters, Rick Riordan does.**

"_Even the one moment you thought was your eternity fades out and is forgotten and dies."_

\- Jean Rhys

* * *

I was currently staring the house of horror I had to call home for a year, hopefully for the last time ever.

No offense to anyone living in San Francisco, but I am so done with this place.

"Percy, you okay?" My mom asked me softly, putting her arm around me.

I blinked away the tears. I didn't even realize they were there. "Yeah mom, I just... We survived. He's gone. I still find it hard to believe."

She hugged me tightly and stroked my back. "It's okay Percy. I promise, Gabe's really gone. It's just us now, okay? He won't find us, not in New York. He'd never go back there. We're safe now. We're safe."

I nodded my head and hugged her back in front of the car.

We're safe.

We were finally free.

-Line Break-

I fell asleep on our way to New York. Even though our lives were free from him, my definitely dreams weren't…

"_Mom!" I shouted helplessly, running towards my unconscious mother's figure, slumped down on the ground. That bastard. He hit her. He really hit her. How long has he been doing that? When did he start?!__ He promised. Godsdammit, he promised!_

_Please, gods, let her be alive._

_No matter how much I ran, I could never reach her. She was always a couple of feet further from me. Every time I got close to the unconscious figure of my mother, she'd be dragged further away from me by an invisible force._

_But then, suddenly, __I felt something grab me. Hard. Painfully hard._

_I didn't have to look back to know who it was. His smell gave him away._

"_What do you think you're doing__ pretty__ boy?" He growled out__, his face uncomfortably close to my ear__.__ "We're not done here."_

_I shook my head, refusing to look away from my mother. "Leave me alone! Let me go!" She was getting further and further away from me. If he didn't let me go she'd disappear__! Didn't he care at all? But I already knew the answer to that question._

_He pulled me away from my mom, and pushed me to the ground._

"_No one talks to me like that." He bellowed. "No one."_

_I blinked._

_I looked into his eyes, they were filled with glee and malice, his intentions perfectly clear.__ Oh gods… He looked demonic._

"_Please!" I shouted desperately, she was all but a dot now. I had to check up on her! She's all I had!__ I couldn't lose her…_

_The grin he wore was straight up predatory__, and it sent shivers down my spine. I knew that grin. It never meant anything good for me._

_He tsk'ed__, eyes glinting__. "Looks like someone needs to be taught a lesson.__ Don't worry, if you're a good boy it'll be over soon.__"_

_My eyes widened._

_No._

_Please no._

_Make it stop!_

_Someone, anyone, please..._

_Make it stop..._

I woke up with a start. Gods, I hated those dreams, why'd they have to be so realistic? Never mind, I knew why.

I looked to my left, and saw my mom driving. She was okay. We both were.

Thank gods.

I let out a breath of relief. We're safe. I had to keep reminding myself that we were _safe_. Sometimes I worry that this is all just a dream, and sooner or later I'd wake up in my shithole of a room, with him standing over my bed with that same predatory grin on his face.

I shuddered. Gods, please, just this once, let everything work out for the better…

She looked over at me, and gave me a hopeful smile, I just… I couldn't take that away from her, so when she asked me… "Hey honey, did you sleep well?"

I mustered the best smile I could and said, "Yeah, better than usual.".

What else could I say?

It was the usual.

-Line Break-

We used to live in New York, with Gabe, until last year. We had to move to San Francisco, because he owed some dangerous people a large amount of money. But now that he's finally, _finally_, out of our lives, we were free!

"Well, it's certainly smaller than our other home…" My mom noted. "I hope you don't mind Percy." We were currently standing in the doorway of our new home, tired from the drive, but definitely happy to be here.

"Don't worry mom, it's perfect, absolutely perfect." I responded sincerely, and I really meant it.

Yeah, this one-bedroom apartment is a hell of a lot smaller than our two story house in San Francisco, but it didn't have _him_, which makes it the happiest place on earth if you ask me. Hell, I wouldn't have minded living on a dinghy if it meant getting away from him.

She beamed at me. "Really?"

I grinned. "Really really. Besides, I'm just glad to be back in New York!"

"Yeah, I've missed this city too!"

"Now that I think about it though… Something is missing." I noted.

"What? Did you forget something?" My mom asked worriedly.

"No, I just think it would feel more like home, if there were a couple of homemade blue chocolate chip cookies fresh from the oven." I said with a grin.

She snorted. "Nice try mister, but it's late, and you've got school tomorrow!"

I groaned. "Aw come on, mom! Do I really have to go? I mean, who's going to help you unpack?"

She shook her head. "Nuh-uh-uh, you're not going to argue yourself out of this one Perseus. You have to go to school, your education is important!"

I sighed, and furrowed my eyebrows. She used my full name, damn. "But… What if something happens? To you? "

Her face softened. She grabbed both sides of my face, and started stroking my cheeks. "I wish you wouldn't worry so much about me Percy… I'll be fine, I promise, okay? We're safe now, he's gone. I want you to go enjoy your youth! Be young, and free! Or however that song goes. Time flies by so fast, I don't want you to miss out. Any more than you already have."

"I just… You're all I have left mom. I can't lose you!" I admitted.

She smiled, and it felt as if someone wrapped a quilt around me. "You won't, okay? Don't worry so much, it's my job to protect you, not the other way around. Just do me a favor."

"Sure, anything."

"Go to school tomorrow, and make some friends, all right? It's a big world out there, so go out and explore it! It'd be a shame not to experience it."

I sighed. "What if I don't make friends?"

"Don't worry, you will."

"And what if can't?"

"You're a great kid Percy. Don't overthink it."

"I don't know, but… I'll try. No promises though."

She smirked. "That's my boy!" And then she shooed me towards the bedroom. "Now go to sleep! That's an order."

I gave her a two-fingered in return. "Ma'am yes ma'am."

-Line Break-

I've never really liked school.

Shocker, I know.

But the fact is, I hated it.

There are many reasons for that, take your pick. People judging me, for every single thing I did, for how I looked, acted, talked, walked, you name it. Teachers, immediately giving up on me the second they laid eyes on me, assuming I was just another lazy, good for nothing delinquent. And my ADHD and dyslexia, definitely wasn't doing me any favors either.

But if there's one thing, I hated more than anything else, it was all the attention I always got.

My mother used to talk about how handsome my father was (is?) and how much I looked like him, and I absolutely hated it. Why would I want to look like someone who gave up on our family? Someone who left us at the mercy of a monster? I have to live with the fact, that every time I stared at myself in the mirror, my father's sea green eyes would always be staring back at me.

Worst of all, because of how I looked, people constantly expected something from me. It's like I owed them my time or friendship, or whatever. They'd expect me to lead them, or do them favors, when all I want, all I ever wanted, was to be left alone. And whenever I ignored them, they'd turn on me, as if I thought I was better than them or something. They'd bully me, and all around just make my life even more miserable than it already was.

Let's just say middle school was rough guys.

Attention is dangerous. It could, would, get you beaten up, or worse.

That's the one useful thing that monster taught me throughout the years.

The more you got of it, the more danger you invited in your life.

And I've had my fill on danger, thank you very much.

Which was why my freshman year of high school was glorious. I learned my lesson, kept my head down, and covered most of my face with a beanie and a hoodie, wore glasses, and avoided everyone I knew from middle school. But then we had to move to San Francisco, and I made the same mistake as I did in middle school. And now here I am, back at Goode High School.

What if someone recognized me from freshman year? Worse, what if someone recognized me from middle school?

I snorted. Fat chance. I was a ghost during my freshman year, and gone for a year. There was no way anyone would remember me. I tugged my beanie lower, made sure my hoodie was covering my head, and entered the building.

-Line Break-

High school seemed a lot like the Middle Ages to me.

There were the people at the top that everyone followed, because they have all the power, but the only reason those people have all that power in the first place, was because everyone followed them.

It was a vicious cycle, one that I didn't want to get involved with anymore. I've learned my lesson when it comes to being at the 'top', and how easily you could fall to the 'bottom', and I was having none of it. This year, I'm aiming to repeat my freshman year and be one of the people in the middle again. Popular enough not to get bullied, but not so popular that everyone knew who you were. Just a normal high school life. Yeah, that was the dream. I just had to survive this year, and next year and I'd be home free.

Which meant I had to avoid the so-called aristocracy at all costs. It isn't hard to locate them really. You just had to look out for the people everyone made way for.

And it looks like I've found them.

It was a group of three people (although from my experience there were usually more of them) walking across the hallway, everyone staring at them almost reverently. It was absolutely ridiculous, but whatever. I vaguely recognized them from my freshman year.

They were all good-looking, as you'd expect: two guys, and one girl.

One guy quite honestly looked like a Roman statue, but tanner, with his regal features, a jaw that could probably cut glass, close-cropped blond hair, sky-blue eyes, and well-muscled arms and legs. If I remember correctly, his name was Jason.

The other guy was smaller, Latino, with curly black hair, dark brown eyes, pointy ears, a cheerful, elf-like face, with a mischievous and impish smile on his face, and a diminutive stature with a slim and relatively scrawny build. I think his name was Leo.

The girl was absolutely beautiful, as you'd expect. She seemed to be of Native American descent, with chocolate-brown hair, that was uncharacteristically cut choppy and unevenly. I couldn't tell you what color her eyes were though, because they seemed to change color like a kaleidoscope, going from brown to blue to green. A guy could go crazy trying to decide the color of her eyes, but man, what a way to go. Her name was Piper, I think.

They walked past me, and stopped to talk to the blonde-haired girl next to my locker. I couldn't recognize her from this far though, not that it mattered.

I sighed. Of course one of them had a locker next to me. Why did I expect otherwise?

I didn't know what to do: either I risked having to make contact with them, and with it potentially lose my peaceful year, or keep carrying all my books in my bag until recess, thus compromising my back.

You know what, screw it, my back could handle another couple of hours carrying books. I ducked my chin and gazed down at the floor, and started walking towards my first class of the day, English.

-Line Break-

When I entered I immediately chose the desk that was in the back, by the window, and dragged the desk neared to the corner, setting my notebook on the top of the desk and sat down at the same time as the bell ringed. I placed my skateboard under my desk, tugged on my hoodie and leaned backwards, careful not to make any eye contact with the people that were already there.

The door burst open, and that same group of this morning entered. Of course they were in the same English class as me. The gods really hated me. And as if that wasn't bad enough, I accidentally made eye contact with the blonde girl. Oh gods, now I remember who she was. She was even more beautiful than I remembered.

She had long, curly honey blonde hair, pretty similar to a princess, tanned skin and a slender athletic body. To be honest, she kind of looked like a typical California girl, except for her eyes. They were absolutely mesmerizing. It was like staring into a storm, dangerous and exhilarating at the same time.

Annabeth.

I'd never forget her name.

I broke off our eye contact, because nope. I was not going to get involved with anyone, least of all her, this year. Nope. Nope. Nope. This girl screamed danger, with a capital stay-the-hell-away, and the last thing I needed was to (heaven's forbid) have a crush on her. Again.

I sneaked a peek at her, and she was looking at me with narrowed eyes, confused.

Ah hell no. Please, for the love of gods, don't tell me she remembers me. Anyone but her.

I hid behind my English textbook, hoping, praying she would lose interest and leave me alone.

For once, it seemed like the gods answered my prayers, because Piper said something to her and she seemed to have lost all interest in me.

I let out a sigh of relief. Heh, looks like that peaceful year is in the bag.

Suddenly I got this bad feeling at the pit of my stomach, and I saw a black raven outside the window. It seemed to be staring at me, cawed the moment I laid my eyes on it, and then flew away. Welp, that probably wasn't a good sign.

Ohh crap, I just jinxed myself, didn't I?


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson, or the characters, Rick Riordan does.**

Maybe I was overthinking it.

I mean, just because black ravens were usually depicted as an ill omen doesn't mean it was one now. Right?

Besides, the rest of the day passed by perfectly. Granted, I didn't make a single friend, but I also managed to avoid drawing attention to myself, which is a win in my book. I survived the day, with absolutely no problems at all.

And suddenly that bad feeling was back. Shit. I shook my head, I was just being paranoid. I set my skateboard on the ground, and went home at a leisurely pace.

That's when I heard it.

I heard some snickering, and a girl, in a dark alleyway, so I stopped. I sighed. I probably shouldn't be sticking my nose into other people's business, but…

Dammit. Sometimes I really wished my mom didn't instill me with this moral compass. I strapped my skateboard to my backpack, and sneaked towards the sounds.

I saw three guys, wearing uniforms from Trinity, a private high school. They were harassing a girl in the middle of a pretty long alley. Oh my gods. It was Annabeth. I closed my eyes.

Maybe she'd be fine?

"So, what do you say sweetheart? Come over to my place?" One of the guys asked, leaning against the wall, trapping her.

I saw her clench her jaw. "No thanks, now please leave me alone."

"Aw, come on, don't be like that. You don't want to offend me now do you?"

She rolled her eyes. "I really don't care."

He glared at her. "Either you come with willingly, or you know, me and my buddies will make you."

Why wasn't she doing anything?! This was Annabeth, for gods' sake! Then again…

I stared at the three guys, and I noticed how big they were. My gods, they looked like they were all in a wrestling team or something.

Shit. I had to do something, didn't I? But if I did, I could kiss my peaceful year goodbye. Damn it, fine.

But first… I whipped out my phone, and started filming them.

"Please, just leave me alone." Annabeth implored.

All the guys started laughing mockingly.

The main guy started stroking her face, without her consent. "You know, I like it when girls beg like that. If you ask really nicely, I promise I'll be gentle. Although it doesn't really matter whether you want to or not. I always get my way. Always."

One of the other guys snorted. "I won't be gentle though."

The third guy leered at her. "I'll be gentle the first time. But after that, well…"

I saw her clench her fist.

Welp, that was my cue to go. I stopped filming, grabbed the lid of one of the trash cans, aimed at the guy closest to Annabeth, and hurled it like a frisbee. It hit him right in the head, making a satisfying sound, if you asked me. I ducked behind another trash can.

"Fuck!" He cried out, crumpling to the ground in pain. But he remained conscious, because I didn't use my full strength when I threw the lid. As bad a person he may be, that didn't mean I wanted to kill him.

"What the fuck?!"

"Where did that come from?!"

I saw a brick in front of me. Perfect! I threw it as hard as I could, it passed over them, and hit the trash cans on the other side of the alley.

"I heard something! It's gotta be him!" One of the guys yelled, dragging the other guys.

While they were distracted, I ran towards Annabeth, hoping to grab her and run away without a fight.

No such luck.

When I finally reached her, the other guys realized that there was no one behind the trash cans, and saw me.

"Hey, you fucker! Get over here!" The guy I hit growled out.

I tsk'ed, turned towards Annabeth, and said, "Annabeth, run. Now."

She hesitated for a moment, so I pushed her to the side, hoping she'd get the hint. Thankfully she did.

Thank gods, I wasn't sure if I could simultaneously fight them and protect her. They surrounded me pretty quickly.

"You motherfucker!" Their leader bellowed, fist ready to make contact with my face.

I ducked, which meant he just punched a brick wall, with all his strength. Sucks to be you.

"Fuck!" He howled in pain, holding his bleeding fist close to him.

"You piece of shit!" One of the others shouted. And then they both charged at me.

So, naturally, I tackled their leader to the ground, rolled back up, losing my beanie in the process, and proceeded to run away.

On my way out, I grabbed the lid of a trash can, and hid behind a container.

When I heard them closing in on me, I hit the guy closest to me with the lid as hard as I could, making him disoriented, but couldn't do anything about the second guy.

He pulled me by the hood of my hoodie, and pushed me to the ground, hard. I fell on top of a garbage bag, breaking it in the process and getting garbage all over me.

He took off my glasses, threw it away, and I heard it crack. Aw man! Those were my favorite, and only, pair of fake glasses! He got a couple of punches in, until I took off my hoodie, grabbed him by his shirt, and head-butted him, possibly breaking his nose, probably giving myself a raging headache.

"Fuck!" He yelled out, rolling away from me.

I stood up, my head spinning and spat out a glob of blood. This wasn't over though.

The guy I hit with the lid, and their leader were charging at me from both sides, and they looked pissed as hell. Which, granted, is a little justified I suppose. I did hit the both of them with a metal lid. That's when an idea popped into my head…

At the last second, I jumped away, so that they were charging each other at full speed, instead of at me. To be honest, I didn't think it would work at all, but surprisingly, it did!

They hit each other, head first, and crumpled to the ground unconscious.

I looked at the only conscious guy left, wondering what he'd do.

He looked at me fearfully, holding his nose. "Who… Who are you? What do you want?!"

I glared at him. "Me? I'm just a guy who really, fucking hates bullies. Now give me your wallet!"

He blinked. "What?"

I rolled my eyes. "You heard me. I broke your nose, not your ears. Give me your wallet, now."

He gulped. "Okay, okay, just… Be cool."

He gave me his wallet. I took a picture of his ID and threw his wallet back at him. I went towards the unconscious guys' body, looked for their wallets, and took a picture of their IDs too.

"What are you doing?" The guy wondered. "Why aren't you getting the money?"

I snorted. "Why would I? I'm not mugging you guys!"

He frowned. "If you don't want money, what do you want then?"

I showed him the video I took of them harassing Annabeth. "I want you guys to leave this girl alone. Otherwise, I'll post this video online, together with a picture of you IDs. Think about how that'll look in this day and age: three guys harassing a girl, who _clearly_ wanted to be left alone."

His eyes widened. "You wouldn't!"

I smirked. "I won't. If, you leave her alone. Actually, you know what? I don't want to see you guys around here, period. If I do catch you guys sniffing around here, well… I'm sure you can imagine what'll happen. Just as I'm sure you wouldn't want your parents, or classmates, seeing this video."

He nodded his head. "Yes, fine whatever you want, we'll stay away! And we'll never bother you or your girlfriend anymore! Sorry, all right?"

I frowned. "She's not… Ugh you know what, never mind. Just grab your two friends and get the hell out of here, before I call the cops."

He scrambled to get up, and dragged his friends out of the alley.

Thank gods.

I sat down against the wall, rested my head against it, and closed my eyes. My head was pounding so hard right now, and my jaw ached. Man, I forgot how painful fights were. How the hell was I going to skate home in this condition?

"Are you okay?" A girl asked me, cupping my face gently. Wow, her hands were soft.

When I opened my eyes, I was greeted by an angel with a storm for eyes. Why was she still here?

I gave her a crooked a smile. "Never been better."

She snorted, her eyes analyzing my face. "Right, yeah I see that."

I cleared my throat and furrowed my eyebrows. "Um, what are you still doing here? I thought I told you to run away?"

She bit her lip. "I know, but… I couldn't just leave you here on your own! Especially because it was my fault you were here in the first place."

I rolled my eyes. "No, it wasn't. It was their fault! They should've taken the hint and left you alone when you said no."

She shook her head. "Still, I should've called the cops or something. Now you're hurt because of me."

"I'll be fine, okay? He didn't hit me that hard, I'll just have a couple of bruises for a while."

"Hold still." She commanded me. She grabbed something from my head.

I squinted. "Is that… Seaweed?"

"Yeah… Hey, let me give you a ride home." Ohh hell no. It's already bad enough she saw my face, the last thing I needed was for her to know where I lived.

I shook my head. Big mistake. I groaned. " It's okay, you don't have to!"

She frowned. "What are you talking about? Of course I do! You saved me. There was no way I would've been able to stop all _three_ of them."

"Nah, the only reason I beat them was because I had the element of surprise. Any other day, I definitely would've had my ass handed to me. Really, you don't owe me anything."

I stood up slowly, with the help of the wall, barely managing to suppress a groan. "See? Totally fine."

She rolled her eyes. "Riight, because nothing says fine like a bloody nose. My gods, did you get seaweed in your brain or something?"

Huh, I didn't even realize my nose was bleeding. "Um, yeah maybe… so I'm just gonna… head on out of here. See you around!"

"Wait!" She grabbed me by the arm.

I sighed, and turned around. "What's wrong? If you're worried about the guys bothering you again, then don't. I promise, they won't be coming around here again."

She shook her head. "It's not that. I just… How did you know my name?"

My eyes widened. Crap. Crap crap crap. "Um… I uh… I guessed?"

She narrowed her eyes. "How stupid do you think I am?"

I acted like I was think about it, so she slapped me lightly on my arm. I grinned. "Kidding! I'm kidding, trust me I know you're not stupid."

Maybe the guy hit me harder than I thought, because I could've sworn I saw her cheeks becoming a little pinker. "So?"

I sighed, goodbye peaceful year. "We go to the same school."

Her eyes widened. "Really? What's your name? What year are you in?"

No I'm not giving up that easily, I will have that peaceful year! "Oh, I uh… I gotta go! Bye!"

And then I ran away. It hurt like hell, but it was worth it.

In hindsight that's when it all went wrong really... I didn't know it at the time, but in my hurry to get away from her, I left two damning clues behind. And with it sealed my fate.

-Line Break-

TIME SKIP: 1 WEEK LATER

"All right class, settle down." Mr. Blofis exclaimed. "We finished last lesson, discussing the Anglo-Saxon society and how it impacted their literature. Now who can tell me-…."

And that's pretty much when I stopped listening. I stared out the window, thinking back on the fight, wondering how and where I was supposed to buy new fake glasses. I should get a part-time job.

No one noticed it when I suddenly stopped wearing them, which was one of the perks of being invisible. Although sometimes, it did feel like someone was staring at me. Like right now. I looked around, but everyone was busy taking notes.

I shook my head. I was just being paranoid. Who would want to stare at _me_? The girls avoided me as if I had the black plague, and the guys just ignored me. Whatever, fine by me. I ignored them, back anyways.

I really tried paying attention during class, copying notes whenever I heard something important, trying to read what was on the board but I just couldn't. The words were swirling around, making it impossible to decipher their meaning. It was so frustrating, because I was trying, I really was. My leg bobbed up and down, and I was clenching my jaw in frustration. 'Stupid dyslexia' I thought. And then my jaw started to hurt.

I sighed. Right, the fight. I'm glad my mom wasn't home when I came back, lord knows how she would've reacted at the state I was in. I was able to hide my wounds with some concealer but… It still hurt, a lot. I don't regret it at all, I mean no girl should have to go through that, but I should've been more careful dammit! I should've taken off my hoodie _before_ charging in like that. That was such a rookie mistake.

I realized my mind wandered off, and it wasn't until five minutes after that I noticed. 'Stupid ADHD'. I copied what Mr. Blofis had just said, because it seemed important, even though nobody actually copied that. I tugged my beanie lower, and finally the bell rang. I looked at the single page of notes I made during the class. I was so screwed, and it was only the first week.

I gathered my things, but I was the slowest one to gather them, so naturally I was the last one to leave. I looked up and I saw Annabeth speaking with Mr. Blofis. Second to last then. I closed my eyes. Gods, why'd it have to be her? I've been avoiding her as much as possible, you know, just in case she knew it was me who saved her. But it looks like the gods weren't on my side today, because the moment I stood up, I saw her looking straight at me. Crap. Crap, crap, crap.

I shook my head. No, I was just being paranoid again. There was no way she knew it was me.

I left as quickly as I could, but I heard her call out for me in the hallway.

"Um, wait!" She yelled out.

I saw everyone staring at her, then at me. Crap.

I kept on walking away, quickening my pace, towards the gym, and all but ran into the boy's changing room.

I let out a breath of relief. Made it.

And then I realized… We also had gym together. Us and all her other friends.

Of course we did.

-Line Break-

I was really contemplating just skipping gym altogether, but this was one of the few classes where the teacher actually took attendance, and I didn't want my mom to get a call about me. I'd hate to see her disappointed face.

I steeled my nerves, and exited the boy's changing room. Let's get this over with. Maybe… Maybe she'd leave me alone? I did just totally blow her off, so…

"Percy Jackson?" Mr. Hedge said.

"Here." I mumbled.

He squinted. "Hey, no hats in my class!"

I tugged my beanie down lower, and walked up to him. "Could I wear it just this once sir?" I whispered urgently.

"Why?"

I bit my lip. "I just… Had a really bad accident and…well…"

He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Fine, fine… Whatever. But if everyone starts wearing hats next class, you're taking it off. No exceptions."

I nodded my head profusely. "Thank you sir!"

He rolled his eyes. "Just go. No need to thank me. Just take this and get out of here. Everyone else is already outside!" And then he gave me clipboard with a sheet of paper on it.

Right. We had a fitness today, and we were supposed to write down our info on this paper. You know, the amount of pushups we did, sit-ups, pull-ups, all that jazz.

"Okay, now that everyone's here, let's get started. Boys on the left, girls on the right. Ms. Aurea graciously agreed to watch over the girls. After that I want you all to make two even teams." Mr. Hedge commanded. "The girls will start with the indoor tests, and you guys will start with the outside tests."

Thank gods, there was no way Annabeth could talk to me. I ended up in the second group of boys and stood at the back.

The first group of boys had to run around the field, and note their time, while we waited for our turn.

"Hey, you're in my English class, right?" A guy asked me.

I turned around, and vaguely recognized him. He had curly brown hair, brown eyes, and what looked like the beginnings of a beard. I think his name was Greg? No, that's not right.

"Um, yeah?"

He grinned and stuck out his hand. "My name's Grover."

Grover. Right, that was it. I smiled hesitantly and shook his hand. "Nice to meet you. I'm Percy."

"So um… Do you want to pair up for the other exercises?" He asked me nervously. "It's just that my other friends already agreed to pair up, and I didn't know who else to ask and I didn't know if you had someone already and-"

"It's cool dude." Interrupted him, this time with a more genuine smile. "I'd love to be your partner."

He looked relieved. "Thank gods. Last year I had to pair up with the teacher. Let me tell you, it is not fun. At all."

I snorted. "I bet. He looks tough."

"You don't know the half of it. He was encouraging me to do more pushups, which wouldn't have been too bad, if it weren't for the fact that he was holding a baseball bat the whole time."

I laughed. "No way, you're totally making that up!"

He shook his head. "I really wish I was. Listen, I'm not the fittest guy around, obviously, but that baseball bat really upped my game. I don't think I've ever done as many push-ups in my life as I did back then. Hell, I didn't even know I _could _do that many push-ups."

"How many did you do?"

"Ten." He dead-panned.

I blinked, holding back my laugh. "Wow, that is… So few."

He grinned. "Yup. Impressive, right?"

"It kind of is. How many can you usually do?"

He thought about it for a while. "Maybe like… five?"

"Wow."

"You rethinking being my partner now?"

"You kidding? No way! Now I've got to see you in action!"

He laughed. "Wow, if I knew you were this mean, I wouldn't have asked you to be my partner."

I acted mock-offended, and then stuck out my tongue.

He rolled his eyes. "Real mature dude, real mature."

I was about to retort, when the coach whistled. "Second group, you're up!"

Oh right. I forgot we were in PE class for a second.

We were all walking towards the start line, when Grover made eye-contact with me and smirked. "Wanna race?"

I scoffed. "Against the guy who can only do ten push-ups? No thanks."

He lifted one of his eyebrows. "Wow, I didn't know you were a chicken."

I narrowed my eyes at him. "Fine, you're on."

"How about we make this interesting?"

"What did you have in mind?"

"If I win, you have to have lunch with me and my friends."

"And if I win?"

"You won't though."

Now I lifted one of my eyebrows. "Wow. Now who's being a chicken?"

He grinned. "Fine, what do you want if you win?"

I pretended to think for a second. "If I win, you have to pay for my lunch for a week."

He stuck out his hand. "Deal."

We shook hands, and got ready to run.

Now, usually I liked to run in the middle of a group, you know to not draw attention to myself... But my pride was at stake here dammit! And a week's worth of free food!

So when the coach blew his whistle, I ran as fast as I could, passing a lot of guys on my way. I looked back, to smirk at Grover, but I didn't see him there. What?

"Over here slowpoke!" He yelled in front of me.

My eyes widened, how did he…?

I did my best to catch up, but every time I got close to him, he ran even faster. We reached the finish line, him in first place, me in second.

I collapsed on the ground, completely out of breath. "What…. How?" I gasped out.

He crouched by me and grinned smugly. "Hey, just cause I'm bad at push-ups doesn't mean I don't know how to run. Oh, by the way, did I forget to mention I'm in the track team?"

I let out a laugh. "Yeah, I think you did." I said sarcastically.

He stuck out his hand, to help me up. "You're pretty good too, you know. You almost caught up with me."

I grabbed his hand, and pulled myself up. "Thanks. I'll beat you next time though."

"Looking forward to it! For real though, you're really fast. You should think about joining the track team."

"Um, I'll think about it."

He grinned, and gave me my clipboard and a pen. Right. "Looking forward to it. And our lunch later."

I sighed. "A deal's a deal I suppose."

The coach whistled, and yelled. "Next up: Ball throwing." He was holding up a yellow ball we usually used for handball.

A couple of guys snickered at that.

The coach just rolled his eyes and whistled again. "For gods' sake, you're all practically adults. Grow up!"

"Sorry coach, I actually think the expression is: grow** a pair**." Someone yelled out. It was Leo. "Don't worry, it's a common mistake."

All the guys laughed at that.

The coach pinched the bridge of his nose, and grumbled to himself. "Well, looks like we have a volunteer. Get over here Valdez!"

He saluted the coach, and grabbed the ball. "With pleasure! Ladies, check this out!"

I looked at where he was shouting, and crap there were some girls outside now. Annabeth being one of them.

Leo threw the ball as hard as he could in an arc, and it landed on the 7th line. The coach, measured it and yelled out, "Leo: 130 feet."

Leo grinned smugly, and started flexing his biceps. "That's right, who's the man?"

All around me the guys were congratulating him.

Next up was Jason. "Not bad dude, not bad. But not good enough. Check this out!"

And then he threw the ball. It landed two lines further.

"Jason: 160 feet."

Jason grinned smugly, and held up his two arms in victory. All the other guys cheered.

It went on like that for a while, until finally it was my turn.

I was testing the ball for weight, and aiming for the 4th line. I didn't want to attract any more attention to myself than I already did with the running test. I looked behind me, and saw all the guys talking excitedly to Leo and Jason.

Perfect.

I threw the ball, and it landed exactly where I wanted it to.

"Percy: 100 feet." The coach announced.

No one really noticed, which was fine by me.

"Not bad Perce." Grover complimented me.

I just shrugged. "Nothing impressive, but what are you gonna do?"

He rolled his eyes. "Right, cause you were _totally _doing your best there."

I narrowed my eyes at him. Did he notice I was half-assing it? If he noticed, did anyone else notice? I shook my head, I was probably just being paranoid. Again.

"Hey, we can't all be as strong as Jason or Leo."

"True, but something tells me you could actually give them a run for their money." He admitted.

I just laughed it off. "I'm flattered dude, but I don't think so."

"Sure Percy, I totally believe you."

"Let's just keep doing the exercises dude."

"Whatever you want man, whatever you want."

-Line Break-

All through gym class, I noticed Annabeth observing me which was… Unnerving to say the least. Nobody seemed to notice but me.

Either way, I've been on high alert ever since. If it weren't for the bet, I definitely wouldn't have been eating lunch in the cafeteria cause I usually ate on the roof of the school.

"Hey Percy, over here!" Grover shouted, waving me over. Luckily, no one was paying us any attention, and I didn't see Annabeth anywhere.

I walked over to Grover's table, in the corner of the cafeteria. Nice.

There were four other people sitting at Grover's table: three guys and two girls.

"Hey guys, this is the guy I was talking about. Percy, these are my friends. Those two guys are Travis and Connor, they're twins if you hadn't noticed. That's Nico, sitting beside him is his sister Bianca and sitting beside her is Katie."

Everyone said 'hi' to me, and I did my best to smile back. Big groups always made me a little nervous.

I tugged on my beanie, and sat down.

I was immediately flanked by the Stoll twins, who both put their arms around me.

"So, Perce, can I call you Perce? Imma call you Perce." Travis started. "We gotta now: you stance on pranks."

"Yay, or nay?" Connor added.

I furrowed my eyebrows. "Um… Yay, I guess? Unless you're asking me if I want to be pranked. Cause it's a no from me."

They both stared at each other, with a serious expression, then back at me.

I was looking around the table, wondering if this was normal, and I guess it was. Everyone was either pinching the bridge of their noses, or looked resigned.

"Is that… Your final answer?" Connor asked me, still looking serious.

"Uh… Yeah?"

Travis took a deep breath. "I'm sorry Perce, that is answer is… Correct! Connor tell the lucky gentleman what he won."

"Will do Travis. You sir, have won the right to pull off a prank, with the one and only Stoll brothers!"

"…I'm so confused right now."

Grover looked apologetic. "Sorry about them Percy, I wish I could tell you they get better within time, but…"

"Hey!" Travis said indignantly.

"Why would we? You don't mess with perfection." Connor retorted.

Katie rolled her eyes. "Right, because you guys are absolutely perfect."

Travis wiggled his eyebrows. "Nice of you to finally admit it."

"In your dreams!"

Connor smirked. "Trust me Katie, you don't want to know what happens in Travis' dreams. Ain't that right, brother dear?"

Travis blushed. "Dude,shut up! I told you that in confidence!"

Bianca leaned forward. "Ooh, now I definitely want to know about his dreams."

"Me too!" Katie said with a smirk.

"Me three!" Grover exclaimed.

Travis glared at Connor. "Don't you dare." He warned him.

Connor just kept on smirking. "Depends, Percy, Nico you guys wanna hear all about Travis' dreams?"

Nico looked up, and nodded his head. "Um… Yeah, I kind of do."

"Traitor!" Travis exclaimed.

"What about you Perce?" Conner asked me gleefully.

I grinned. "Oh, hell yeah."

"Aw come on dude, seriously?" Travis moaned out.

I shrugged. "What can I say, I'm kind of curious now."

Connor rubbed his hands together. "All right then. Everyone gather around, for this is a tale for the ages! It begins with a…"

Suddenly he stopped, and stared at something behind me with wide eyes. Actually, everyone at the table seemed to be staring at something behind me. The cafeteria was uncharacteristically quiet.

Oh gods.

Someone tapped me on the shoulder. It didn't take a genius to guess who.

Reluctantly, I turned around, and came face to face with…

Annabeth. Of course.

She smiled nervously. "Um hey…. You're Percy, right?"

I tugged on my beanie. "Uhh, yeah? Can I um, can I help you?" I mumbled, looking anywhere but at her. I saw the people at her table, staring at us incredulously. Well, the girls. The guys were just glaring at us. **Me**.

All around me I could hear people whispering.

"Who's that guy?"

"Lucky bastard."

"Why the hades is Annabeth talking to _him_?!"

I felt my face heat up, just a little bit.

She shuffled her feet and said three little words that would end up changing my life.

"Can we talk?"


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson, or the characters, Rick Riordan does.**

**A/N: Sorry, I had to fix some minor mistakes and add a couple of details. Nothing major though, so you don't have to reread it!  
**

* * *

"Can we talk?" She asked me nervously.

I looked around, at all the people watching us with rapt attention, and weighed my options. I could say no, and have **everyone** hate me, for it, or I could say yes, and have _the guys_ all hate me for talking with someone wayy out of my league.

I bit my lip, either way you look at it I was so screwed. And with everyone staring at us, I probably couldn't run away either. Fuck.

I tugged my beanie lower, and sighed. Might as well go with the option where only half of the school's population hated me. "Um.. Yeah, okay, sure, if… If you want to…"

She looked relieved. I guess I _was_ taking a while to answer…

She beamed at me. "Great! I just wanted to-"

I stood up abruptly. "Um actually, could we talk… anywhere but here?" I did not want anyone to know about the fight.

She furrowed her eyebrows. "Sure? But… Why?"

"I'm just… not that comfortable with, or used to, everyone staring at us right now." I whispered.

She looked around, and seemed surprised. Did she… not notice everyone going quiet? Was she used to this by now? Wow.

"Oh! Yeah, of course! I just have to grab my stuff, if that's okay?" She pointed at her table, with all of the beautiful people. Oh gods… Did she expect me to accompany her to her table? Hell. To the. No.

"Great! Meet you on the roof in…" I looked at my watch. There was still 20 mins left till class. "… five minutes?"

She blinked. "The roof? But it's locked! How-"

I grabbed my stuff and ran off before she could finish. "Bye!"

-Line Break-

I looked at the smoke of my cigarette, and wondered how all of this could've been avoided. Maybe she wont show up? It's been four minutes. Once it reaches five, I am out of here, and I'll just… Change schools I guess. It'll be hard to convince my mom, but I'm pretty sure I could. Too bad about Grover though… I would kind of miss him. It felt like I finally made a friend. Maybe.

I heard someone go through the door.

"Sorry, sorry! My friends would not stop asking me questions, but I'm here! I escaped." She gasped out. "I made it, just in time."

I furrowed my eyebrows. Did she run? For me? Why? And why the hell did that make my stomach feel warm?

"Um.. That's okay? So… What did you want to talk about?"

"I just wanted to give you- Wait, are you smoking?"

I looked at my lit cigarette. "What gave it away?"

She rolled her eyes, but came closer nonetheless. "You do know that's bad for you, right?"

Now it was my turn to roll my eyes. "Oh really? Silly me! And here I thought those horrifying pictures on the packets were what would happen to me if I _didn't_ smoke."

"You don't always have to be so sarcastic you know."

"Trust me, I do."

"Ugh, you're such a Seaweed Brain!"

I blinked. "Excuse me? What?"

She was standing right in front of me by now. "You know, because I'm pretty sure your brain was replaced by seaweed during that fight!"

I looked at her weirdly. "Um… Okay? Is that… Is that why you wanted to talk to me? To insult me? Wow, now I'm really glad we didn't do this in the cafeteria."

She blushed. "No! That's not why… Ugh! It's your fault! You distracted me!"

I scratched the back of my head. "Um… I'm sorry?" Girls are so weird.

She shook her head, and took a deep breath. "I wanted to give you this."

I grabbed the paper bag she was holding out, and looked inside. It was my missing beanie and hoodie! That's where they went!

"Oh, thanks! But um… How'd you know they were mine?"

"Your name was written on the tags."

I frowned, and looked at the tags. Oh, yeah, I didn't even realize. "Well… Yeah, but not my full name. It only has Percy written on it."

"Yeah, but I kind of assumed that was short for Perseus, and you told me you go to our school so… I asked a couple of teachers if there was anyone named Perseus in their classes, and Mr. Blofis told me your name was Perseus Jackson and… Voilà."

"Wow, that is… Kind of creepy, not gonna lie." I admitted. New rule: Annabeth isn't allowed to say my full name. Ever. I kind of liked it, way too much.

She slapped me lightly on the arm.

I grinned.

"Kidding! I'm just kidding. Thank you, Annabeth. For washing and returning my clothes. And, going through all that trouble to... track me down?" Saying her name out loud felt weird.

I blinked, I could've sworn I saw her blush for a second there.

"So um… Is that all you wanted?" I asked after a minute of awkward silence.

She bit her lip, clenched her fists, and seemed to steel herself. Second new rule: No lip biting. Ever.

Oh gods, was she going to hit me? Jesus, I mean, I know my jokes aren't the best, but I didn't think it warranted a beating…

I felt her hands on my face, and I flinched. But instead of the slap or punch that I was expecting… it was her soft hands, cupping my face gently. My skin tingled at the contact.

I opened one eye, and saw her staring at my face intently.

I blinked. "Um, what are you… What are you doing?"

Her hands stroked my jaw gently, and a thousand volts of electricity seemed to arc through my body. "I don't understand, where are your bruises? I saw you get hit."

Ohh, okay. She was looking for my wounds. Still weird, but I guess that makes some sense. Sort of.

"Oh, um… I heal quickly so… Yeah..." I stammered, feeling my face heat up for sure. It wasn't a total lie, my body was used to healing a lot after all. But weird or not, I wasn't used to being this close to a girl. It was kind of short-circuiting my brain. Possibly… Literally.

She frowned and bit her lip. "Am I.. am I hurting you?"

I gulped, because no. She was definitely not hurting me. Quite the opposite, really. "Um… No. It's uh… I like it."

She blushed, and smiled, the kind of smile that showed off her dimples, and I…

I kind of wanted to know what that smile tasted like. Desperately.

I blinked, wait what. I did not just think about kissing Annabeth. Nope. Nope, nope, nope. Third new rule: Annabeth wasn't allowed to touch me, because holy shit. I'm pretty sure I'd die if she kept it up. But man, what a way to go.

And she really has to stop looking at me like that. For real. She was looking into my eyes, like… There was something in me worth seeing.

She frowned. "Why do you wear that beanie? You look so much better without it."

I felt my blush deepen. I really wasn't used to girls complimenting. Especially girls like Annabeth. "Um, well… I… I like it, that way. People leave me alone then."

"Why would you want to be left alone?"

"It's better that way."

"Do you want me to leave you alone?"

My first instinct was to shout 'No', and that scared the hell out of me. She can't do that. She can't just… come in to my life unexpectedly and completely turn it upside down. That's not fair. She shouldn't be allowed to fluster me the way she does. To look at me the way she does. To smile that way she does.

That's not fair. Because all that does is make me want her. And girls like her? They never end up with messed up guys like me. That's a fact of life. Which was exactly why I wanted to avoid her at all costs. Well, among other things.

She must've taken my silence as a yes, because she let go of my face, and I missed her hands almost immediately.

"Sorry…" She mumbled with a hurt look on her face.

I felt my heart clench at that. Godsdammit, that's not fair.

I cleared my throat. "No! It's okay, I just don't understand… Why? Why would you even want to be around me?"

She looked at me as if I was an idiot. I mean, I am, but some clarification would be nice.

"You're kidding right? Isn't it obvious?"

"…"

"Because you're my friend, Seaweed Brain."

I frowned. "Um… I am?" Well, that's news to me.

"Yeah! You saved me, now I want to return the favor somehow."

"By… being my friend?"

She nodded her head excitedly.

I wanted to tell her that that made absolutely no sense at all, but the bell rang, and she ran off before I could.

"I'll see you around!" She yelled.

"Please don't!" I yelled back, but she was already gone. Shit.

…

What the hades just happened?!

-Line Break-

"Hey Percy, what did Annabeth want with you?" Grover asked me from the back of the classroom, the moment I entered the class.

I looked around, looks like our Algebra I teacher was late. Pretty much everyone was looking at me, interested at the answer.

"Yeah, what's your relationship with her?" Some random guy asked, looking at me suspiciously.

"Why would she want to talk to _you_?!"

I tugged my beanie lower. Gods, this was exactly why I wanted to stay away from Annabeth and her crew. I was currently panicking, trying to come up with a believable excuse.

"Oh you know… I uh… I just… helped her up after she fell down after school last week Friday, and she… Wanted to let me know she's… okay. Yep, that was it." Gods that was the worst excuse ever.

Everyone looked at me weirdly.

"Why did you guys talk in private then?" Connor asked, sitting beside Grover.

"Well, uh... when I helped her up, I… fell down too! I didn't really want to talk about that with everyone staring at us, cause you know… That's embarrassing."

"What? That's so lame!" A random guy yelled out.

"Yeah!"

All around me people voiced their disagreements. They were probably hoping for some juicy gossip or something. Although I could tell all the guys were relieved.

I scratched the back of my head and grinned sheepishly. "Yeah, I know."

"That makes sense."

"Can't believe I thought for a second she'd like him."

"Lol, true."

Everyone seemed satisfied with my answer, and went back to ignoring me. Well, almost everyone. Grover and Connor were staring at me like I had two heads. I guess they saw through my, admittedly crappy, lie.

I wanted to sit by them, but on my way towards them I felt someone grab my arm, pretty much forcing me to sit down beside them.

"What the hell is your…?" I started to say, until I saw who it was. Piper. Sure… Sure… Why not? Why the hell not? As if this day couldn't get any weirder, this had to happen.

She grinned at me, with a predatory look in her eyes, and I'm not afraid to admit that in that I moment I lowkey feared for my own life.

"Percy, right?"

I gulped, and tugged on my beanie. "Um… Yeah. What.. What can I do for you?" I stammered.

She was playing with her hair while she scanned me from top to bottom. Ookay?

"Wouldn't have pegged you as Annabeth's type, buuut she is full of surprises." She muttered to herself.

I furrowed my eyebrows. "Um, what?"

She shook her head, and held out a well-manicured hand. "How rude of me! Hi, I'm Piper, Annabeth's friend."

I looked at her weirdly, but shook her hand nonetheless. Mostly because I was afraid of what she'd do to me if I didn't.

"Yeah, I know. Everyone does."

"Right, I didn't want to assume. You know what they say, when you assume, you make an ass out of u and me." She said with a grin.

I snorted and grinned before I could stop myself. That was exactly the kind of dumb jokes I loved both making and hearing. But that didn't mean I wanted her to know that. Maybe she didn't hear me?

Never mind, I saw her grin turn into a victorious smirk. She definitely heard me snort. Dammit.

"Glad you liked that! Nice to know you've got a sense of humor. People usually groan whenever they hear one of my jokes."

"Geez, why does that not surprise me?" I commented sarcastically, before I could stop myself. Oh my gods, what is wrong with my filter today?!

She lifted one of her eyebrows at that. "Well, well, well! I like you! You've got some sass in your ass."

"Oh my gods, you did not just say that." I said in disbelief. What is with this girl?

"Some junk in your trunk!"

"Oh my gods, stop." I pleaded.

She wiggled her eyebrows. "What if I don't want to?"

I pinched the bridge of my nose. "Ookay, I am definitely changing seats now."

Before I could do exactly that, the teacher showed up. Oooof course she did.

"Mr. Jackson, is there a problem?" Ms. Alecto asked me loudly, with a glare. Oh yeah, here's the 411 on Ms. Alecto, she absolutely hated my guts… and everything else about me actually. I have no idea why she hates me, but she does. Which sucks. A lot.

I felt my face heat up, and shook my head. "No, uhh… ma'm."

All around me people were snickering.

"Then: Sit. Down." She commanded me. "Unless you want me to give you detention."

I breathed out of my nose, and sat down.

"Man, she really hates you!" Piper whispered.

I rolled my eyes. "Thank you, for summing that up."

"Heh, sum… Nice."

I looked at her weirdly.

"You know, sum the noun meaning the result of adding numbers, like in math that we have right now?" She explained. "And then you have the verb to sum up? Do you get it?"

I pinched the bridge of my nose. "Oh.. my gods."

She grinned. "You got it! Yes! It probably would've taken Jason longer to get that. He's smart and hot, but when it comes play on words…" She shook her head, looking disappointed. "But you'll like him, he's really nice."

I furrowed my eyebrows, and looked at her weirdly. "What? Why…? Why do you say that like I'm going to meet him any time soon?"

Now she was looking at me weirdly. "Because you are? Him, and everyone else. You know, Leo, Frank, Hazel, Reyna, Silena, Luke… I'm probably forgetting a couple of names, but yeah. Everyone."

I tugged on my beanie. "Uhh, no I'm not. Why… Why would you think that?"

"Because you're with Annabeth now, silly!" She said with an amused smile.

"What?!" I said, a little too loudly.

"Mr. Jackson, do you have a problem with what I'm teaching?" Ms. Alecto asked me with a glare.

I shook my head profusely, and gave her two thumbs up. "No uh.. ma'am. Keep doing what you're doing. It's good stuff."

She pushed up her glasses. "One more disruption from you, and it'll be detention for a week. Are we clear?"

I nodded my head. "Yes… ma'am."

She hmphed, and went back to talking about equations or something… I don't know, the moment they started teaching math with letters was the moment I realized I sucked at math almost as much as I sucked at English.

"I am not with Annabeth!" I whispered to Piper, the second Ms. Alecto took her eyes off me.

She rolled her eyes. "Not like that. Not yet, anyways. I mean, now that you have an in with Annabeth, you've got an in with the rest of us!"

"Who the hell made up that rule?! And what do you mean not yet? That's not going to happen. Ever."

She shrugged it off. "Whatever you say dude. It's just the way things go. Besides, if you hang out with Annabeth, you're going to be hanging out with all of us anyways."

I wanted to retort, and tell her that there was no way, no way in hell, that I was going to be hanging out with them any time soon, but before I could the bell rang and she stood up.

"We'll talk more later. See you around!" She told me, and walked away.

"No, we won't! Please leave me alone!" I said in return, but she was already gone. Fuck. How do they keep doing that?

"Everything okay Perce?" Connor asked me.

I wanted to run my hands through my hair in frustration, but I couldn't because of my stupid beanie. Gods, stupid school. Stupid day.

I sighed. "I don't… I don't get girls." I admitted to him and Grover.

Connor snorted. "Welcome to the club dude."

"We gotta go, we'll be late for History." Grover reminded us.

"Oh shit, Mr. Brunner's gonna have my head if I'm late again." Connor exclaimed. "Come on dude, let's go."

"All right, all right, let me just get my stuff." I told him. And then I realized, I haven't written a damn thing during the class. Oh my gods, now I'm screwed for Algebra I too.

-Line Break-

I was hanging out with Travis, Connor and Grover in the classroom during recess, when the weirdest thing happened.

Leo stopped in front of me and started analyzing my face, with Piper behind him, sending me an apologetic look. I tugged my beanie lower.

"What… What is happening right now?" I asked out loud, mostly to Piper.

"He doesn't seem like much. Definitely not like Annabeth's usual type." Leo noted. He scanned my body from top to bottom, in an eerily similar manner to Piper earlier. "Then again, Annabeth is full of surprises."

"That's what I said!" Piper exclaimed happily. They both high-fived.

I pinched the bridge of my nose. "Oh.. My gods. I'm not… Me and Annabeth aren't… We're just… What do you people want from me?"

Leo blinked, and hit his own head. "Where are my manners? The name's Leo Valdez, bad boy supreme, and the Super-sized McShizzle. Nice to meet you, you must be Annabeth's…?"

He looked at me expectantly, and I realized everyone else was too.

"This is the part, where you tell me what you are to Annabeth." Leo whispered.

"Why?"

"Come on dude, can you just… Just… okay?"

I sighed. "Classmate?" I suggested.

He blinked, and turned towards Piper. "Huh, is that what they call it nowadays? Classmates?"

She shrugged. "Don't look at me! I know just as much as you do! As far as I can tell they're still figuring stuff out."

"OH!" Leo exclaimed. "Okay, I see."

I frowned. "You see what? There's literally nothing to see."

He winked at me and smirked. "Don't worry dude, I _totally_ understand."

"Understand what? There's nothing to understand!"

He just nodded his head, and kept on smirking. I could tell he didn't believe me, it was very obvious. "Uh-huh, suuure dude, sure. I got ya."

I turned towards Grover, Travis and Connor and said, "Can you guys please help me out? Tell them there's nothing going on between me and Annabeth?"

"Geez, I wish I could Perce." Travis said with a smirk, and eyes that said that this was payback for lunch. The bastard.

"Yeah, so do I, but I just can't." Connor added with an identical smirk. Gods, those two are the worse friends ever.

"Guys!" I exclaimed. "Grover, you'll set the record straight, right?"

Grover shook his head, looking regretful, but I saw him smirk. "I want to Percy, I really do, but I just can't lie."

"Bullshit! You lied about being on the track team earlier!"

"No, I didn't tell you about being on the track team. There's a difference there."

I closed my eyes in exasperation. Make that the three worse friends ever. Today has got to be one of the longest days of my life, and it isn't over yet.

Leo put his arm around. "Don't worry about it man, I got your back! I'm all about my friends' happiness! Which is why you should come to my party this Friday!" He looked at Grover and the Stoll twins and added, "You guys too! Bring whoever you like!"

"For real?" Travis asked excitedly.

"Hellz to the yeah player!" Leo exclaimed. "The more the merrier. You guys get to have a good time, and my homegirl Annabeth gets to sort shit out with this guy!"

He squeezed my shoulders when he said 'this guy'.

"That's actually a great idea!" Piper complimented him.

Leo winked at her. "When will you learn, Beauty Queen, that all my ideas are great?"

She snorted. "You've literally had one great idea in your life, and this was it."

He pouted, and shook his head. "Do you see how she treats me? You're such a mean girl dude, you might as well just wear pink on Wednesdays."

Before they could start bickering like kids, I cleared my throat and said, "What do you mean with sort shit out? There's no shit to sort out!"

He chuckled. "Props to you man, very consistent! You, would make an impressive liar. Or method actor. Eh, same difference. I'll see you at my party, all right?"

He finally took his arm off of me, after clapping me on the shoulder.

"Oh! You should give me your number, you know, so I can text you the deets to my party." Leo proposed. "The deets to my peets. Wait, that came out wrong… You know what I mean."

I was reluctant to give him my phone number, but I could see how excited Grover and the Stoll twins were for this party. I sighed, and gave him my number. Whatever, I'll just send them the details later and… Not go with them.

He saved it on his phone and grinned at me. "Excellent! I'll send you the deets later! Man, this party's gonna be so awesome!"

Piper high-fived him, and smirked at me. "I'll make sure of it. I got your number now too btw. So thank you, for that."

I frowned. "That was just meant for Leo though."

"Oops, sorry not sorry." She said with a shrug. She didn't look that apologetic if I'm being honest. "Too late now. Looking forward to seeing you this Friday. Byeee Percy!"

And then they left.

"Oh my gods." Grover exclaimed.

I sighed. "I know."

"I can't believe it…" Travis said with wide eyes.

"I know! They're insane!" I said in disbelief.

Connor shook his head. "It's not that. Dude, we just got invited to _**Leo Valdez' **_party! First party of the year, and we were actually invited!"

I looked at them incredulously. "We're not… We don't actually have to go to that, right?"

"Are you insane? We're **definitely **going!" Travis told me. He looked at me as if I was insane for even considering the idea of not going. "**All** of us."

Now I looked at him as if he was insane. "No. Nuh-uh. There's no way, no way in hell, that I'm going to that party." And I meant it. My peaceful year was seeming more and more like a dream at this point, but that didn't mean I'd stop trying to make it a reality.

"Aw come on, you gotta come!" Connor implored.

I shook my head. "I don't care! I'm not going, and that's final."

"But Percy, it's gonna be fun!" Grover told me. "And we never get invited to these things!"

"Pleaseeee?" Conner pleaded.

"Why don't you just go without me?" I tried.

"Cause he invited you specifically!" Grover reminded me.

"Yeah, they're all going to expect you!" Connor added.

"Well, for sure Piper and Leo." Travis clarified. "Although... The rest of their crew will probably know shortly."

Lovely.

"Yeah, and you saw them, they're insane! I don't want to deal with them any more than I have to." I retorted.

"Come on! Pleaseeee?" Connor implored.

"We're not going to stop bothering you until you say yes you know." Travis warned me.

I saw the hope in their eyes and sighed. "Ugh.. Fine. Fine. Whatever. Whatever, I guess my opinion doesn't matter."

Travis and Connor high-fived, while Grover threw a fist in the air. Wow, were these guys always this dramatic?

"We're going to a party!" Connor whooped.

I really have to get better friends.

Oh gods, I've got a bad feeling about this. This was such a bad idea. Such a bad idea.

I saw a black cat outside the window.

Yep.

**Definitely** a bad idea.

* * *

**MapleRose150:**** Yooo, thanks so much! I was lowkey wondering whether I should give up, so I really appreciate it :D**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson or the characters, Rick Riordan does.**

All I ever really wanted for this year was to be unnoticeable, _utterly _unnoticeable.

I know how cliché that sounds, but screw it. That's all I ever wanted. But all throughout the week, I kept getting noticed by, well… Annabeth.

She'd send me smiles, that I both lived and died for. And every time she did, I noticed all the guys around me sending me jealous glares. Worse, all of her friends have definitely taken notice of me. I mean, they didn't accost me the way Piper and Leo did, but I could feel their stares bore into me, reminding me how similar they were to predators. And how it felt to be prey again.

Everywhere I went, I could _feel_ people stare at me and whisper, probably also about me. Lovely.

"Dude… what the hell _happened _between you and Annabeth?" Conner asked me on the day of the party, setting down his tray.

I was staring at the table, head between my hands. I was currently going out of my mind, mourning my apparently unrealistic dream of a peaceful year. It was wounded when I dove head-first into a fistfight and died the moment Annabeth picked up its tattered remains in the form of my beanie and hoodie.

R.I.P.: PERCY'S PEACEFUL YEAR.

At least it was getting a semi-proper funeral today, although if it were up to me it wouldn't have been Leo Valdez' party.

I sighed. "What do you mean?"

"Have you not noticed everyone staring at you wherever you go?" Travis asked sarcastically.

"_Especially _the popular kids?" Grover added.

"A.K.A. Annabeth's friends?" Katie clarified, just as invested in this piece gossip as everyone else at the table.

I groaned. "I already told you guys! She fell last week, I helped her up, and then fell myself during the process."

"Aw come on dude, you can't expect us to actually believe that, right?" Connor retorted.

"Yeah, that's obviously bullshit!" Travis exclaimed.

I sighed. I wanted to tell them, I really did, but that would just lead to more probing questions, and I just couldn't deal with that right now. I just became friends with them, I didn't want to mess that up now, I didn't want Gabe to mess that up. He already messed up enough stuff for me.

"I don't care if you believe me or not." I told them.

"Fine, just for a minute, let's say it is true," Grover started, looking at me suspiciously, "why do Piper and Leo think something's going on between you and Annabeth?"

I pinched the bridge of my nose out of frustration. He was totally right, by the way. All throughout the week, they'd wiggle their eyebrows, and wink at me whenever they were with Annabeth. Even worse, when she wasn't paying attention, they'd make some rather... crude gestures. And that's putting it nicely.

"I really really really don't know why on earth they would think that." I said exasperatedly. "I mean come on, I don't have a single shot in hell with a girl like Annabeth!"

Bianca shrugged. "I don't know, she does seem pretty interested."

Katie nodded. "Haven't you noticed the way she looks at you?"

I looked up in disbelief. "What?"

"Dude! How have you not noticed it?" Grover asked me incredulously. "Anyone would've noticed a girl like Annabeth staring at them like that!"

"Even I noticed." Nico admitted silently.

"Shit, that means something dude." Travis said seriously.

"Yeah, Nico doesn't even care, and he noticed." Connor said in awe.

Nico shrugged and nodded. "They're right, it's gotta be pretty obvious if even I noticed it."

I desperately wanted to run my hands through my hair in frustration right now. I'm really starting to hate my beanies. I couldn't even hide behind the shield that is my glasses because of that stupid fight.

"No, there's no way, okay? There's no fucking way Annabeth is the least bit interested in me. She's… Annabeth, and I'm, well, **me**." I tried to explain.

Katie tsk'ed. "You never know Percy, you never know. Besides, you're not a bad guy."

"Yeah! You're awesome dude." Travis told me seriously.

"And funny." Grover added.

"And totally not ugly!" Connor exclaimed.

"I actually think you might have a shot." Nico noted.

"With the way she's looking at him? Definitely." Bianca concluded.

"Well, what if I don't want to be with Annabeth?" I wondered. "Did you guys ever think about that?"

"Dude, you don't want to be with Annabeth?" Connor asked me incredulously.

"For real?" Katie wondered.

"Annabeth Chase?" Travis clarified with disbelief.

I was rubbing the back of my neck. I didn't put too much thought into it. Didn't let myself put any thought into it, actually. To be perfectly honest, I might've been a little bit interested, she _was_ my childhood crush and first friend ever but… I doubt she even remembers me. She's… Amazing, and I'm… Not.

Besides, I don't think I could handle that kind of relationship right now. I have so much baggage, it would bring anyone down. I could never do that to anyone. If I don't even like myself, how the hell was I supposed to like anyone else?

"I don't know. I just… I just got here you know. I barely know anyone well enough to even think about that." I told them. It was technically not a lie. Sort of a half-truth. They didn't know I went to middle school with them, which was fine by me.

"Huh, yeah, sometimes I forget we just met last week." Grover admitted.

"Damn, where does the time go?" Travis wondered.

"I can't believe we've only known you for a week." Connor exclaimed.

"It seems like forever!" Katie agreed.

"Holy shit!" Nico said in awe.

"Hopefully it is forever." Bianca grinned when she said that.

I couldn't hide my smile. Heh, maybe my mom was right. I guess having friends was kind of nice. Really nice actually.

"If it were up to me, B., it will be forever." I admitted.

"Fuck yes!" Travis exclaimed.

"We should totally celebrate our friendship at Leo's party tonight!" Connor whooped.

"What?" Nico asked with wide eyes.

"Leo Valdez' party?" Bianca asked, eyes just as wide as her brother's.

"You guys didn't know? We were invited." Connor reminded them.

"Shit, I knew we forget something!" Travis said with a frown.

The bell rang, announcing the end of our lunch.

"Crap, we've got History." Connor reminded Travis, Grover and me.

We all hurried, Mr. Brunner's was gonna be pissed if we were late. Again.

"Wait! What was that about Leo's Party?" Katie yelled at us.

"I'll text you the details!" Travis yelled back.

"We're all definitely going though!" Connor announced before we were out of the cafeteria.

-Line Break-

"Yeah, so about the party… I think I'm definitely not going." I announced.

"No way! We're **all** going dude. You agreed." Grover reminded me. "We're all staying over at my place after! Our parents already agreed to it, remember?"

I was currently outside the school, skateboard in one hand, waiting at the bus stop with Grover, Travis and Connor.

"Yeah! I even managed to convince Katie to come with!" Travis implored.

"And I got Bianca and Nico to agree!" Grover claimed.

"Dude, he got Bianca and Nico to agree. Let me repeat, _Bianca __**and **__Nico_. That is a fucking big deal." Connor elaborated. "They never want to have join our sleepovers!"

I was tugging on my beanie. "But… Why do I have to go?"

"Come on! Leo invited you personally!" Travis reminded me.

"Besides, now we're also going to celebrating our friendship there!" Grover added.

I sighed. "Can't we just… Go bowling together as friends instead?" I proposed.

Connor shook his head. "Dude, come on! We never get invited to parties."

"Yeah, and it's like… a rite of passage or something." Travis admonished.

"And isn't it better to go through something like that for the first time together? As friends?" Grover stressed. "And if it goes badly, lament it together at my place after?"

I groaned. When you put it like that, how the hell was I supposed to disagree?

"But…" I tried, when suddenly my phone started ringing.

I almost got a heart attack when I saw who it was.

"Holy shit… is Piper McLean seriously calling you right now?" Grover wondered with wide eyes.

"Dude… answer it." Travis said, eyes wide with wonder.

"No way! I'm not answering that. We don't have the time, what if your bus comes?" I reminded them.

"Fuck that, we'll just uber home or something." Connor answered.

"You've gotta answer it dude!" Travis implored.

I sighed. "Fine." I muttered, but then it stopped ringing.

"Oh, well that's the end of that." I concluded a little happily.

And then my phone started ringing again, same person. "Crap, I jinxed myself there, didn't I?"

"Put it on loudspeaker." Grover advised.

"What? No!"

"Please?" Connor pleaded.

I pinched the bridge of nose, but did it anyway.

"You better not be thinking of skipping Leo's party." Piper said the moment I picked up.

All of our eyes widened, and jaws fell. How did she…?

"I bet you're all wondering how I knew." Piper said without prompting, smirk evident in her words. "Eyes all wide, jaws on the floor, hilarious."

I chuckled uncomfortably. "Um… Are you… A witch?" I asked half-jokingly, but also half- seriously.

"No, but I am a badass bitch." She answered smugly. "Look behind you dorks."

We all did, and there she stood with a smirk, hanging up on me, the sudden wind making her look exactly like a badass bitch.

"What are you even doing here?" I wondered.

She tsk'ed. "I had a feeling you were going to chicken out."

I started sweating. "What? Of course not!" I don't think she believed me.

"I don't believe you." She dead-panned. Oh.

My gods, can she read my mind or something?

"Fine, maybe, I was kind of, sort of thinking that you know… I don't need to be there?"

"He's lying, he was definitely thinking of not going to the party." Connor admitted.

I looked at him incredulously. "Dude!"

He looked a little apologetic, and shrugged his shoulders. "Sorry dude, but if we can't convince you…"

"Maybe she can." Travis finished with wide eyes. "Smort."

"But..!" I started. The bus arrived before I could finish.

"Can't talk right now, the bus is here." He interrupted me.

"I thought you were gonna Uber?!" I reminded them. They just ignored me, probably to get away from Piper as fast as possible. Lucky bastards.

"Again, really sorry Perce!" Connor said quickly, getting on the bus.

Grover clapped me on the shoulders and said "Good luck with Piper dude. If you survive, I'll see you at the party!"

And then they left me all alone with Piper McLean.

You know what? I take it back, I don't think I like having friends after all.

"So?" Piper broke off the momentary silence.

I sighed. "What do you guys even want from me Piper?"

Her eyes softened, as she walked towards me. "We just want to get to know you."

I tugged on my beanie. "But why? There's seriously nothing special about me, all right? I'm nothing special. You're not missing anything."

She shook her head, an arms-length away from me. "That's not true."

"How would you know?"

She smirked, with a playful glint in her eyes. "Just a feeling. You could try and prove me wrong I guess."

"And how would I do that?" I asked earnestly.

"Come to the party."

I snorted. "Wow. You're a persistent one, aren't you?"

She lifted a perfectly shaped eyebrow, playful glint still evident in her eyes. "What? Don't tell me you're scared?"

My eyes narrowed at that. Don't let her get to you Perce. Even if…

"I'm not scared."

She shrugged, with that infuriating smirk of her. "Could've fooled me."

I clenched my jaw. "And, theoretically, how would coming to the party prove you wrong?"

She looked up, as if in thought, ruined by the smirk she still wore. "Guess you'll have to come to find out, huh?"

Ohh, this girl was definitely dangerous too. Then again, aren't all the populars?

"Can't you just tell me now?" I tried.

She shook her head. "Nope."

"You're going to track me down and drag me to that party if I don't come, aren't you?" I concluded.

She smirked victoriously. "What do you think?" My gods. She was nothing but trouble. Oh, but how tempting the trouble seemed when it looked like her.

I closed my eyes in resignation. "What time does it start?"

-Line Break-

"You sure you packed everything Percy?" My mom asked me for the hundredth time, making sure before we left.

"Yes mom, I double, triple, quadruple checked, all right?"

She smiled and hugged me. "I'm sorry, I'm just so excited! Your first sleepover since we last left New York! That's a big deal."

I rubbed the back of my head. So, I didn't tell her I was going to a party. Obviously the Stoll twins' idea. Although I'm starting to regret agreeing to it.

"Yeah haha, I know, who would've thought it?" I said, with an uncomfortable laugh.

She smiled. "I'm really proud of you Percy. I know how nervous you were about making friends, and now look at you! A sleepover after one week."

I smiled more genuinely at that. She was right. I never thought, that I could in a million years, make friends this easily.

"Yeah, I'm pretty excited too." I admitted for the first time out loud. "How do I look?"

"Good! But honey, why are you wearing your beanie?" She wondered.

I tugged on it. No one's seen me without it. Well, except for Annabeth, but if I could've avoided that I would've.

"Why? Does it look bad?"

She took it off, and tussled my hair. "No, of course not, but isn't it uncomfortable?"

"A little." I admitted.

She looked into my eyes and smiled encouragingly. "I'm sure your friends will recognize you without it."

I gulped, I wouldn't count on it. "I just feel better with it on."

"I don't think you'll need it Percy honey, you're going to a sleepover." She reasoned.

Shit. She had a point. But there's no way I could go to that party without it! I didn't even have my glasses to shield me, this beanie was all I had left.

"Well…."

"Perseus Jackson, you are not going to a sleepover with a beanie, and that's final" She said sternly.

Crap, she used my full name in _that _tone. There's no way I could convince her now. I'm really regretting all of my life choices right now. Especially befriending the Stoll twins.

I sighed dramatically and gave her my beanie. "Fine." My stomach fluttered with nerves.

"Actually, you are dressed very nicely for a sleepover." She noted.

I looked down at my only good dress shirt (it's midnight blue by the way), ripped black jeans and my least damaged white converse.

"Yeah, um… We were thinking of maybe eating out later tonight, so…" I improvised on the spot.

She grinned brightly and grabbed her car keys. "Oh, that's great! Get your stuff and I'll meet you downstairs."

I let out a sigh of relief and nodded my head. "You got it mom."

-Line Break-

"Dude… You're like hot. Really really hot." Was how Grover greeted me, the moment I entered his living room. Everyone else was already there, looking at me with wide eyes.

I nervously ran my fingers through my hair and rolled my eyes. "Shut up."

"No, he's being serious." Travis told me.

"Oh. Um… Thanks?" I said, feeling my face heat up.

"You might actually give Luke and Jason a run for their money." Katie noted.

"You kidding me? His black messy hair alone puts him ahead of those slices of Wonder Bread." Connor commented. "With them it's like, thank you, next. But with you it's like, check please!"

I pinched the bridge of my nose. "What? What does that even mean? You know what, never mind. Can we just… stop talking about me right now?"

"Sorry Percy… We've just… Never seen you without a beanie before." Nico admitted.

"You look great without it!" Bianca complimented me.

I cleared my throat. "Right… Thanks. And yeah I know, I feel better with a beanie but…"

"But?" Grover repeated.

I sighed, my face heating up again. "My mom wouldn't let me wear it." I mumbled.

Everyone was quiet for a second, and then they started chuckling.

"Seriously dude?" Nico asked me, chuckling and looking more at ease.

I wanted to be mad at them for laughing, but to be honest, yeah, that is kind of funny.

I cracked a smile. "She used my full name and everything."

"Shit, you know she ain't playing when she does that." Travis exclaimed.

"Damn straight!" Connor agreed.

I looked around at everyone excitedly discussing the upcoming party. I had to admit their excitement was contagious. Maybe a party isn't the worse thing in the world. Especially if I was going with these guys.

"Guys, check it out! Pregame!" Travis whooped, taking out a bottle Cuervo and a couple of shot glasses, while Connor came back from the kitchen with a bowl of lime wedges and a salt shaker.

Oh Hell.

To the.

No.

I shook my head. "Nuh-uh. No. I am not doing tequila shots."

Travis ignored me and poured seven shots.

"We're not seriously doing shots right?" I wondered. "Nico?"

He squirmed. "I dunno…. I kinda wanna try it."

My eyes widened. "For real? All of you?"

Everyone around me nodded. I blinked.

"You don't have to though." Grover told me earnestly.

Connor nodded. "Yeah dude, we're not gonna force you."

"Totally. No peer pressure whatsoever." Katie agreed.

"I just thought it'd be fun to try it out together for the first time." Travis admitted with a blush.

I bit my lip. When you put it like that…

"Fuck it, I'm in." I exclaimed.

Everyone whooped, and high-fived. "Wow, you guys sure are excited."

"Are you kidding me? Not only are we going to our first party ever, but we're also doing shots for the first time!" Travis whooped.

"Tonight, is going to be epiiic." Bianca announced uncharacteristically.

"You got that right!" Katie squealed.

"So how do we do this?" Nico wondered, staring at the table. "I know we've gotta take the shot, lick the salt and suck on the lime wedge, but I don't know in what order."

"Gimme a sec." Grover said, scrolling on his phone. "Ah, here we go: Salt, shot, lime. Huh,seems easy enough."

"You wrote it down?" I asked him.

He shrugged. "Yeah, didn't want to mess this up"

I blinked. "Fair enough."

"I think you're supposed to hold the lime wedge with the same hand as the salt." Travis noted.

"I think we can do that." Connor concluded.

Everyone grabbed a lime wedge, licked the back of their hands and poured some salt on it.

"Before we do this though, a toast." Connor announced, shot glass raised. "Here's to us."

"To the start of a beautiful friendship." Grover added.

"To firsts, and probably not lasts." Bianca added.

"To our youth." Nico added

"To an epic party." Katie added.

"To the start of an awesome adventure." Travis added.

"To a night, we'll never forget." I finished with a smirk.

Here we go…

Salt,

Shot,

Lime.

* * *

**Hey, I hope you guys are all doing all right! I know it's been a hit minute since I last posted, but life's been pretty unpredictable these past few months. Although, I'm sure you all know that by now. Consistency isn't something I'm great at, so I don't know when the next chapter will come out. Hell, I don't even know if anyone's still interested in this story. Inspiration comes and goes I suppose.**

**That being said, I really do I hope you and all of your families have a safe place to stay in and quarantine. And that you liked this chapter of course xD.**

**All jokes aside, I don't know when the next chapter will be done, I'm kind of making all of this up on the spot. I've still got stuff to figure, and like I said, inspiration comes and goes, kind of like a wave. In an ideal world I'll be updating next week. No promises though...**

**Hope you all liked it, and you know, that you're washing your hands and stuff.**

**Oh and here's a PSA:  
****You don't need to get drunk to have a fun time. That is not at all what I'm going for here. You can totally enjoy a party without a sip of alcohol! I just thought it would bring these kooky kids closer together, doing something that for the first time ever. Ideally, you wait until you're, you know, legally allowed to drink. However, this is all _fiction_, so I figured, why not? Again though, YOU DON'T HAVE TO DRINK TO HAVE FUN! Can't stress that enough. I just see this as a bonding moment for these _fictional _characters.**

**So, yeah, that's all I wanted to say haha. Let me know what you thought about the chapter, and if you have any suggestions, I'm all ears! **

* * *

**MapleRose150: Aw, thanks dude! I'll try, but I'm not the best at being sassy... Hope the wait was worth it tho ;)**

**IhaveStupid: Thank you so much dude! Happy to have you. Or, happy to have had you? Idk...**

**Darkar Sam: Thanks dude! Yeah, I know, I can't help it though XD I have a cheesy sense of humor... Tbh, Percabeth isn't set in stone, I'm still figuring stuff out. I'm open to suggestions, if you (or anyone else) has any.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson, or the characters, Rick Riordan does.**

_Salt_,

(No going back now. The toast has been given, and everyone was going in for the kill. This might be a mistake though.)

_Shot_,

(Oh my gods… This was a mistake. Burning. Bittersweet. Slightly savory. Warm. Too warm. My gods, did Connor microwave this thing?)

_**Lime**_.

(Oh gods, where is it? I had it a second ago. Did that lime wedge grow legs and walk away? This was definitely mistake. I needed relief. Sweet, scratch that, _sour_ relief. I needed that neutralizing flood of sour juice. And then I realized, it's been in my hand the whole time and bit down hard, holding the rind in my mouth like some sad lime clown.)

"Oh gods, where the hell is that lime?" Travis croaked out.

"I don't know! It was in my hand a second ago!" Connor panicked.

"Here!" Grover yelled out, and threw a bunch of lime wedges at them.

I closed my eyes, feeling the salt, liquor and lime rush into my stomach. I shivered with a mix of pleasure and pain.

You know, now that it's over, I felt great—energized, amped, ready for the night. I could see everyone felt exactly the same way. We were so in sync right now.

"I feel **so **pumped!" Connor exclaimed.

"Tequila was definitely a great choice." Katie told Travis.

He grinned. "Nice of you to admit it."

She shrugged. "When you're right…"

"You're right." Bianca concluded.

"We've got exactly 10 minutes until we have to leave." Grover reminded us.

"So… Still 10 minutes of our pregame, interesting…" Nico muttered. We locked eyes, and I swear, somehow, I _knew_ what he was thinking. I practically _**felt**_it.

"Enough time for another?" I proposed. Holy shit, I can't believe **I** was the one to say that.

"Fuck yeah!" He said with a grin. Gods, we were vibing so hard right now.

"Dayumn, you guys are playing to win!" Connor said with a grin.

"I **always** play to win." I said with a cocky smirk.

"Confident Percy… I love it!" Travis extolled.

"So… everyone up for it?" Katie asked excitedly, just to be sure. "Cause I am totally down, if you guys are."

"Oh, you know I'm down girl!" Bianca answered excitedly.

"And we know Percy and Nico are down." Connor said with a grin.

"And you guys know, me and Connor are always down." Travis said, with a matching grin.

We all stared at Grover, who was getting ready to leave.

He stared back at us with a disbelieving smile. "You guys aren't serious right now, right? There's gonna be alcohol at the party."

We all shared a look, before looking back at him, just as serious as before.

"But… The bus!"

"Sooooo…?" Nico asked him, his tone rising at the end.

Grover stared at us for a couple of seconds before shrugging. "Yeah, all right, fuck it."

Connor pumped a fist into the air and whooped. "Yessss, let's all get shitfaced tonight bitches!"

-Line Break-

"He's here!" Leo whooped, the moment he opened the door. "Piper! The fish is in the net, I repeat, the fish is actually in the motherfucking net! No need to go fishing after all."

"Um… What?" I asked, eyes wide in confusion. "Guys, what is happening right now?" Did they just refer to me as fish? Why?!

I heard someone go down the stairs quickly, and before I knew it I was face to face with Piper.

She smirked, and checked me out unabashedly. "Dayumn son, definitely seeing what Annabeth's seeing in you right now. You look just about ready for _anything_."

"Yeah chico, I must admit, dayumn indeed." Leo said with a smirk. "For someone who doesn't have any shit to sort out, you sure are dressed to play."

I ran my hand through my hair, nerves definitely present in my stomach right now. I think I might need a drink. Like, immediately.

"Um…" I started, not sure how to process all of this right now.

"Help." I muttered quietly to my friends behind me.

I felt the Stoll twins put their arms around me, and saw Grover wink. Oh thank gods for these guys!

"Ohh, Percy's ready alright." Grover started, confidently smiling.

"But he didn't come here to play." Travis added with a smirk.

"He came here to **win**." Connor finished, an identical smirk present on his face

Oh my gods. Why? Just… Why? I take it back, they were so not helping right now.

"That's not what I meant with help." I noted dryly.

Leo nodded, his smile genuine and opened the door to his mansion of a house wider. "Nice crew you got there dude, respect. Now, make yourselves at home, or as the Spanish put it, mi casa es su casa!"

"Sweet." The Stoll twins said at the same time.

Everyone entered Leo's place, but the moment I stepped foot, Piper grabbed me. "Sorry guys, do you mind if I borrow your Percy for a sec?"

"Guys! Help!" I yelled at them.

Nico looked up in thought. "Well… Fine."

"As long as you bring him back in one piece." Bianca added with a shrug.

"Guys!" I exclaimed disbelievingly.

She shrugged again. "What are you gonna do?"

"Enjoy!" Katie advised me with a wink.

Yep, they're absolutely no help at all. Screw them.

"Drinks are in the kitchen, dance-floor is in the dining room, games are in the basements and pool is in the garden." Leo informed, gesturing vaguely to the directions of the rooms he was listing off. "All on all, drink, dance, explore!"

And then they dragged me off.

"Where are you taking me?" I asked Piper and Leo, who were both dragging me by my arms.

"To the kitchen." Leo answered, wiggling his eyebrows. Oh gods, not the eyebrow wiggle. That damned eyebrow wiggle.

"Why?" I asked, a little fearfully. I could really use a drink. Like, right fucking now.

"Well, you look like you could use a drink." Piper noted. Seriously, that is just getting creepy at this point.

"Or two." Leo coughed out.

"Or a dozen." I corrected.

They both stopped an looked at me, almost reverently. I was definitely freaking out even more than when they were dragging me.

"It's you!" Leo said in awe.

I blinked. "Um… What?"

"It's you! The chosen one." Piper repeated excitedly. "You're our missing musketeer!"

I pinched the bridge of my nose. Because nope. Just… Nope. I am not, never will be, their missing musketeer.

"No."

"But-" Leo started.

"No!" I interrupted.

"It's okay dude." Piper cooed. "You'll be fine."

"Yeah! We'll take good care of you! You're one of us now." Leo added, manic glint in his eyes.

"No, no I'm not."

"Yes, you are! We're the same." Piper explained. "All three of us."

I ran my hand through my hair. "Where's the kitchen?" I asked exasperatedly. If I had to listen to them, I might as well forget about it tomorrow.

"See? One of us." Leo concluded smugly.

I pinched the bridge of my nose. Why gods… Just… Why?

-Line Break-

Two beers later, and I felt better. I don't know what it is, but life is just a little more alive after a few drinks. Or maybe I'm more alive after a few drinks.

I was nursing my third beer, still wishing Piper and Leo would leave me alone. I suppose things could be worse, I'm not sure how though.

"So… What do you think of Annabeth?" Leo asked me all of a sudden.

I practically choked on my drink when he asked me that. Oh gods. Things just became worse.

"What?"

"You know, _Annabeth_." Piper purred out. "Blond, hot, strong as hell?"

I grabbed a napkin off the table, and wiped my mouth. "Why are you guys asking about Annabeth all of a sudden?"

They shared a look, before smirking.

"No reason." Leo said innocently.

"Just curious." Piper added.

I looked at them suspiciously. "Right. You guys are definitely planning something, and I am having none of it."

"And how would you know that?" Leo asked me.

"Because, I can practically _feel _it emanating off of you two."

"Because we're the same." Piper concluded with a victorious smirk. "See? You **are **one of us."

"Oh my gods." I groaned out exasperatedly.

"So…? What do we think about Annabeth?" Piper wondered.

I sighed. "I don't know… If we're the really the same, don't you already know?"

"Aha! So you admit we're the same." Leo proclaimed.

I pinched the bridge of my nose. "Yes, fine whatever. We're the same. Anything to finish this conversation."

Piper and Leo whooped and high-fived. Oh my gods, what have I gotten myself into?

"And since we're the same, I know you're just _**dying **_to talk to her." Leo concluded. "I can feel it in my bones right now bro."

I spat out my drink. "What? How did you even get to that conclusion? I'm not _**dying**_-"

"Shh, it's okay." Piper interrupted me, patting my back. "You don't have to say it. _We _got your back dude. #TeamPercabeth. "

"Yeah, we'll help you with Annabeth." Leo said with a manic grin. Oh gods.

"I don't need your help with Annabeth!" I protested.

Piper and Leo looked surprised at that.

"Dayumn, this one's got some claws!" Leo noted.

"So confident! I love it!" Piper squealed. She fucking _squealed_. "Annabeth's gonna love it!"

"What are you guys doing?" Someone asked us sternly. Piper and Leo stiffened. And I… I just wanted to die right about now.

I turned around, and yep. There she was. Beautiful and all.

Annabeth fucking Chase.

Kill.

Me.

Right fucking….

Now.

"Annabeth, hey girl! Looking good!" Leo complimented her with an awkward chuckle. "So fierce!"

Piper slapped his shoulder. "Dude, town it down." She whispered.

Annabeth narrowed her eyes. "Are you guys bothering Percy?"

Piper and Leo shared a look, and then stared back at me with a manic glint in their eyes. No, don't tell me this was their plan. Don't tell me they're gonna…

"Bye!" Leo yelled, and ran off.

"You lovebirds have fun!" Piper yelled while she was running away.

Yep. They did it. They actually did it.

I pinched the bridge of my nose for the millionth time tonight, for I… was left alone with Annabeth Chase. Just as they planned. Those ingenious bastards.

Okay, maybe I was being a tad dramatic, there were like 6 other people in the kitchen. But still. Annabeth Chase.

She cleared her throat, probably to catch my attention, not knowing she already had it.

"Hey Percy, can we um.. Can we talk?" She asked me, sounding (if I'm not mistaken and drunk) nervous.

I looked at the bottle of beer I was holding, a quarter left. "Yeah, sure. Go ahead."

"Um, in private?" She added.

Ohh… No. That's dangerous.

I was about to protest, when I made the mistake of looking up. I saw the determination in her grey eyes, and I knew that she wasn't actually asking me, she was ordering me. Why was that so hot? What the hell is the matter with me?

I chugged the rest of my beer, and slammed the bottle onto the table.

"Lead the way." I said in a resigned tone.

She smirked, and grabbed me by hand, and led the way. Where we were going, I didn't know, nor did I care , she could've been leading me to my death right now and I'd be absolutely powerless to stop her.

She was holding my hand tightly, as if she was scared I'd just... disappear.

Holding her hand made me shiver the same way the tequila did.

A mixture of pleasure and pain.

-Line Break-

"So… What did you want to talk about?" I asked, breaking the silence that ensued the moment we sat down.

We were currently on the roof, which had a nice view of the garden, but was far enough that you could hear your thoughts.. All alone, just the two of us. But I was totally not freaking out.

Except that I was. What am I supposed to do in this situation? Nothing in my life could've prepared me for… this.

She was looking at me again, an emotion I couldn't quite place present in her stormy grey eyes. She rested her head on her bent knee, head tilted to her right.

She smiled, that damned dimply smile, that showed off her perfect teeth. I mean seriously, who the hell had teeth _that _perfect? I swear, her teeth made me so much more aware light, they somehow made the stars and the moon shine brighter.

"I don't know."

I frowned. "What?"

She shrugged, smile still on her face. "I just wanted to hang out with you, alone." She admitted with a small blush. "No staring, no music, just us."

I gulped. No, that is so unfair. She really shouldn't be allowed say things like that to me. Because, holy shit, was it affecting my thinking process more than any amount of alcohol. Not only that, but she figured out I hated crowds. That realization drove the butterflies in my stomach absolutely wild.

"Just us?" I repeated nervously,

"Just you and me." She affirmed, her voice strong and clear, only softened by that damned smile of hers.

I furrowed my eyebrows. "Why? I mean, why me?"

She lifted one of her eyebrows. "Because you're my friend Seaweed Brain." She reaffirmed. "And I want to hear all about the things that go in your head, without missing a single thing because of music that's way too loud, or people that aren't interesting enough."

I felt my face heat up at her confession. She was tearing down my defenses faster than I could replace them, and that scared the absolute shit out of me. Because what happens then? I tell her my deepest darkest secrets? Then what? She's absolutely horrified, decides that I'm not worth it, and abandons me just like my father did, leaving me a broken husk of a man.

I closed my eyes, trying to calm down the storm her eyes inspired into my stomach, my head, my heart, my very being. Godsdamnit, this is so unfair. It shouldn't matter that she was my childhood crush, it really shouldn't. She isn't my crush, and I'm not a child anymore. I have to stop living in the past. Ican't let myself hope.

"I don't even know what's going in my head." I admitted.

"Well, what are you thinking about right now?"

"You." I confessed softly, oh so softly, I wondered if she heard it.

I saw her smile go wider (which I didn't even know was possible), her eyes shine brighter, and her face glow hotter. "What about me?"

Everything.

Maybe it's because I'm not entirely sober right now, maybe it's because we're sitting beneath the moon and the stars, maybe it's the way she was looking at me right now, but I wanted to tell her all about my dreams, my hopes, my nightmares, everything. I wanted to voice the words I'm afraid to say, the ones I kept hidden in between the folds of my heart and the ridges of my mind. I shook my head. What is the matter with me? She'd run for the hills screaming if I ever let her in too deep. Worse, she'd stop looking at me the way she does if she ever knew.

I cleared my throat. "Um… You know, I uhh, I was wondering how you were doing?"

What the hell was I even saying right now? Of all the things I wanted to say, I go ahead and say... that?

"What?"

"Well, um, I wanted to know if… you're okay? Like for real?" I stumbled over my words, my mind drunk on her eyes, her smile, and you know, alcohol.

She blinked, and looked a little disappointed and honestly, so was I. "Oh, that's… not what I was expecting, but yeah, all right. I'm okay, all things considered. What about you? How are your bruises?"

"Okay, all things considered." I repeated with a playful smirk.

She pushed me little, but I could see her mirror my grin.

"For real though, my bruises are healing just fine. I haven't had any headaches or nosebleeds since the fight, which is, you know, a great sign." I explained.

I saw her frown. "Do you still have bruises?"

"Um, yeah, they're pretty faint."

"Where?"

"My jaw."

And then I felt her cup my face once more, making me realize how much I've been missing her hands ever since she last stopped cupping my face.

"I thought they healed last week?" She asked me, stroking my jaw slowly, making my skin tingle as if it was the first time all over again. Yeah, I don't think I'm ever getting used to this. To her.

"What?" I asked, doing my best to concentrate on her words instead of her hands.

"Last week, you told me they were gone." She reminded me.

I blinked. I can't believe she actually remembered. "Um, yeah no, sorry. I uh, I couldn't really think properly. They're still there, but uh, you know, it doesn't hurt or anything." I stammered out.

She frowned. "Why couldn't you think properly?"

I felt my face heat up. Oh, she probably felt it too, with her hands. Lovely.

"Um… You." I confessed clumsily, avoiding her eyes. "I mean, I'm not used to you, or any girl really, being this close to me, and well... I kind of say stupid things… Well, more than usual."

"Oh really?"

"Yeah, Annabeth, you uh, you kind of make me nervous." I told her earnestly, still looking down at my lap. "Really nervous."

I felt her grab my chin, pretty much forcing me to look her in the eyes.

"Does anyone else make you this nervous?" She asked me softly, nervously biting her lip.

I gulped, my eyes trained onto her lips. "No. Definitely not." I saw her smile at that.

"You make me nervous too." She confessed. "Really nervous."

I blinked. "Really?"

"Yeah, I… I'm usually not this shy. Or clueless."

Shy?

Dude, if stroking my jaw is something she can do when she's shy, then I kinda wanna know what she can do when isn't feeling shy, because holy shit. I can't even imagine stroking her jaw when I'm feeling confident.

"Why do** I** make _you_ nervous?" I asked her disbelievingly. "You're… You. And I'm just… Me."

"Oh Seaweed Brain, that's exactly why I'm so nervous." She explained, her eyes constantly dropping to my lips. What is happening right now?

I furrowed my eyebrows. How on earth could I, Perseus Jackson, ever make anyone, least of all _Annabeth Chase_ nervous? Seriously, someone please explain.

I don't know if I was doing this unknowingly, or if she was pulling me closer, but either way, our faces were inching closer and closer, just a little bit more and we-

Right as we're about to um… meet, her phone rang, breaking whatever spell we were both under. She let go of my face, her eyes wide with surprise and… disappointment? I rubbed my eyes, because I have got to be mistaken. There's no way she wanted to actually kiss me. There's no way I would actually let myself go like that... Right?

"Oh, I'm so sorry, I thought… I could've sworn I put it on silent." She mumbled with a blush.

I shook my head, running my shaking hand through my hair. "Um, no worries. You should probably get that."

She bit her lip and looked at her phone. "Yeah, I guess I should."

"I'm just gonna… Head down." I said, pointing towards the window into the house.

She frowned, definitely disappointed with my answer, but screw it. I had to get as far away possible from her, before I said or did something I couldn't take back.

"Oh, okay… I'll see you around the party?"

"Um, yeah, maybe."

-Line Break-

Oh gods.

I almost…

We almost…

I can't believe it.

I was currently in the kitchen, looking for something stronger than beer. Needing something stronger than beer, to help me, escape... forget.

"Hey Percy, you okay there?" Someone asked me.

I looked up, and was surprised to see… Jason Grace. Sure. Sure. Why not? Why the hell not?

"Um hey… Yeah. I'm just… Looking for something stronger."

His eyes twinkled. "Well, me and the guys were going to have a drinking contest in the garden. You're more than welcome to join." That sounds like a great idea!

"Uh, okay but… why are you inviting me?"

"Well, any friend of Annabeth's is a friend of mine." He answered honestly. "Plus, and no offense, but you look like you could use a drink."

I let out a nervous laugh, doing my best to avoid thinking about what I almost… nope. I'm not going there.

"Lead the way."

"So the rules are simple. First one to not only finish the ten shots of vodka, but also keeps it in, wins." Jason explained.

"How about we make this interesting?" Luke proposed with a smirk aimed at me. Maybe this drinking contest wasn't the best idea.

"What do you have in mind?" Jason asked him.

"The loser has to be the winner's slave for a week." He announced.

Jason thought about it. "Well… If everyone here agrees…?"

All around me the guys nodded their heads in agreement, everyone but me.

Jason looked at me, a concerned look in his eyes. "You okay with that Percy?"

I gulped, obviously not confident in my chances. "Um-"

"What? You going to chicken out like a little bitch?" Luke goaded, all the guys shouting 'Oooh' like middle-schoolers.

My eyes narrowed, words I would probably regret at the tip of the tongue, when I was tackled to the ground.

"Holy shit!"

"What is happening right now?"

"The fuck?"

"What the fuck?" I groaned out the moment I made contact with the ground.

"Whoops, sorry about that Percy!" Leo told me, not at all looking apologetic. "I was tying my shoes, when all of a sudden I slipped. You know, because my shoes were untied."

"Oh, no! You don't look so good!" Piper announced dramatically, putting her hand on my forehead. "Sorry boys, but I don't think Percy can compete in this drinking contest! He looks like he needs to rest his head."

I furrowed my eyebrows, about to retort, when Leo put his hand over my mouth. He took a hold of my torso, while Piper grabbed my legs and they carried me to the living room couch, where they unceremoniously dropped me.

"You're welcome." Leo told me happily.

"What? Why did you tackle me?!" I growled. "That really hurt!"

His eyes softened. "Sorry dude, but I had to do something! We had to something."

"What are you talking about?"

"Luke." Piper said, as if that was enough.

"What about Luke?"

"He was totally planning something." She announced.

Leo nodded his head. "Totally. And that ain't good news for you."

I pinched the bridge of my nose. "Why?"

"Cause he hates you." Piper explained.

"What?!"

Leo nodded his head solemnly. "For real dude, Luke does not like you."

"What did I do?" I wondered.

"Nothing." Piper answered. "It's just…"

"Annabeth." Leo finished.

I furrowed my eyebrows. "What about Annabeth?"

Leo put his arm around. "Look dude, I'm all about her happiness, right? Well, Luke is all about her happiness too! But, you know, only if it's in the shape of him."

I rubbed my temples. "Wait, so if I understand you correctly, Luke wants to be with Annabeth."

"Yup."

"What does that have to do with me?"

"Everything!" Piper proclaimed.

"How? Just… How?"

"He's jealous of you." Leo explained.

Maybe Leo tackled me harder than I thought, because I was for real starting to have a headache from all this drama. This was exactly why I needed to stay away from Annabeth. Things were getting way too complicated, way too quickly.

"You know what, I can't deal with this right now." I told them, turning around and walking away. "Maybe ever."

"Wait, where you going?" Piper yelled out.

I ignored her question, mostly because I didn't know the answer.

All I knew was I needed to get the hell out of here.

* * *

**Well, apparently when it rains, it pours cause here I am updating already. I'm just as surprised as you are tbh.**

**I'm so not done with this party event, I actually had more written, buuuut this seemed like a.. suspensful(/evil) place to end it XD. I'm really just making things up as I go at this point. The next chapter... I don't even know when that's going to be done at this point... Could be tomorrow, could be next week, hopefully before next month haha.**

**Anyway, thanks for reading and I hope you liked it!**

**Let me know what you liked, hated, and what you'd want to see in future chapters :)**

* * *

**MapleRose150: Hell yeah! I'm always open for criticism, cause how else am I supposed to know whether I suck or not? I'm like so stoked you like my writing style, and this story! For real, sometimes I worry that my sentences don't make any sense, or that I use wayyy to many commas, or that this story isn't really going anywhere and stuff. I get what you mean about Annabeth being too shy and I tried to address it in this chapter (in a hopefully not too obvious way). All in all, if you've got any more comments, thoughts or ideas throw em this way, cause I'm open :D I hope you liked this chapter! (p.s. I don't have any knowledge about Wattpad, so I'm afraid you're gonna have to educate me ;)**

**xmariex2525: Omg same dude, same! This quarantine is driving me absolutely nuts. On the plus-side, I probably wouldn't have updated this story so soon without it... Either way, I'm glad you love my story and that I could provide you with some form of relief in this crazy, chaotic period of history!**

**ApollosCreed8: Thank youuu!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson, or the characters, Rick Riordan does.**

My feet ended up leading me to the basement, where people seemed to be playing ping pong, but with… beer? Oh, wait, beer pong. Right. Yeah. That makes sense.

"Percy! There you are!" Bianca exclaimed happily.

I walked over to her and Nico. "Hey guys, what uh.. What are you doing?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Nico commented. "Kicking ass at beer pong."

"Not for long, Di Angelo." His opponent muttered with a glare.

Bianca and Nico were apparently playing beer pong, against two girls. One girl was pretty much the epitome of punk. Black hair, electric blue eyes, DIY clothes, and a glare so scary, I was surprised Nico was able to just smirk at her and make his shot.

The other girl glanced at me, and honestly she looked like she was made to be a ruler. She had impossibly black eyes, that pierced through my soul, her glossy black hair woven into a complicated looking braid.

"Where's the rest?" I asked them, breaking the searing eye contact with that girl.

"Well, the Stoll twins are over there," Nico pointed at the end of the room, where there was another beer pong game set up, "Katie had to go to the bathroom, and Grover, well he's probably moping."

"Moping?"

Bianca nodded, eyes still trained on the game. "Yeah, he saw this girl he likes talking to some guy, and now he's all mopey and angsty."

My eyebrow went up at this tidbit of information. "Grover likes a girl? Which one?"

Nico rolled his eyes. "Juniper. He's liked her since like, freshman year, and we keep telling him to talk to her but…"

"Where he at?"

"Drowning his sorrows over by the drink table." Bianca answered with a headshake.

"All right, well I'll go find him… Good luck with your game?" I said awkwardly.

Nico smirked. "With the way Thalia's playing right now? There's absolutely no need for luck."

The punk girl, Thalia, paused and glared at him, about to retort, but then she just… Closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and suddenly she was smirking. Not gonna lie, she looked hella scary right now. I could see Nico agreed, because he paled and Bianca swatted him and muttered, "Nice going hotshot."

Welp, that was my cue to leave right there.

-Line Break-

"Percy!" Grover yelled out happily, waving his arms to grab my attention. Yeah, he's definitely drunk right now. How do I know? He forgot that he was holding a glass when he waved his arms, pretty much spilling whatever he was drinking on himself, and a couple of other, drunk-looking, people.

"Shit! Is there a leak or something?" Grover wondered with a scoff, looking at the ceiling. "Nice house there Valdez, geez. You can afford a pool, but not a decent ceiling?"

I shook my head, unable to contain a grin. "Dude, you're holding a cup. There's no leak."

Grover scowled. "No, I know a leaky ceiling when I see one. And that right there, my friend," he said, while pointing at what to me seemed an awful lot like a lamp, "is a leaky ceiling."

"You sure it's not just… a lamp?" I suggested sarcastically.

He just kept on scowling, but I could definitely detect a hint of pink on his cheeks. Cute. "Okay, what do you want?"

I held up my hands in surrender. "It's all cool dude. I just wanted to check up on you."

"Check up on me?"

I shrugged. "Yeah, Bianca and Nico told me you were kinda down after seeing, um… Well… you know..."

"The love of my life flirt with _**the**_Charles Beckendorf in the front yard?" Grover finished forlornly. He grabbed another red solo cup off of the table and started drinking from it.

"First and for all, I don't know who that is. Second and for all, aren't you being a little drama-"

"-You don't know who _**the **_Charles Beckendorf is?" He interrupted disbelievingly.

"Um, yeah. Why do you add the _**the**_?"

"Because! It's _**the **_Charles Beckendorf! He's like, a freaking legend! And, a great dude in general."

"Why?"

"What do you mean why? Why is anyone a great dude?"

I pinched the bridge of my nose. "No, I mean, why is he a and I quote 'freaking legend'?"

He started squirming. "Well, believe it or not, a lot of people don't really, uh, they don't really like us."

I frowned. "Us?"

"Yeah, me, the Stolls, Nico... you know, **us**."

"What? Why?"

"We're not exactly the uh, the best-looking people, or you know, popular. So… we used to get bullied."

"What?! Seriously?!" I said, outraged. If there was one thing I couldn't stand, it was bullies. "Who? Tell me their names, and I'll-"

"Woah, dude. Chill, it's all good!" He said with a reassuring smile, grabbing my shoulders to stop me from trying to avenge them. "It's all good, all right? Thanks to Charles Beckendorf. People look up to him man, and he… He saved a lot of kids from a lot of bullies. _**That's **_why he's a freaking legend to me. And other bullied kids."

My eyes widened. "For real?"

"For real times a million dude."

"Shit dude. He sounds great!" And I really meant it. Guys like him, just… Make this world a better place.

"He's the greatest." Grover said with a smile, and then he frowned. "Which is probably why Juniper is better off with him."

"Hey, no. You're great too dude!" I tried to comfort him, not expecting the sudden switch.

Grover just looked into his cup. "I'm no Charles Beckendorf."

"Aw come on Grover! Maybe it isn't as bad as you think. Maybe they're just... friends?"

"Get your head out of your ass Percy! She's gonna date him, and before you know it, they're married, with three kids and a kickass house that Charles rebuilt, because he's super handy, and I'll be all alone surrounded by caged rabbits that I saved from a testing facility and before you know it they've become carnivorous because I died all alone and they're desperate enough to eat me and-"

"-Okay, skipping a couple of steps there buddy. Also, that took a really dark and unexpected turn at the end there." I interrupted him with a disbelieving laugh. "I mean, you're not exactly sober right now, so can't you admit that maybe, just maybe, you made a mistake? Maybe they were just two totally platonic friends, having fun at a party?"

Grover looked up pensively. "All right, you may have a point there." He started grinning. "Yeah, you might be right, maybe it was all in my head!"

I grinned, glad I could help Grover out of his funk. And then I saw Grover's eyes widen with a mischievous twinkle.. Oh gods. That cannot be a good sign.

"We should spy on them!" Grover yelled out, setting down his empty cup.

Now my eyes widened, out of horror. "What?! No! Oh my gods, no!"

Grover grabbed my shoulders, and looked into my eyes. "Please? I need your help dude! I need an impartial observer!"

I shook my head. "Nope. Nuh-uh! I am not spying on, what is for me, two random strangers!"

"Aw come on! I'd do it for you!"

"I don't care! There's no way in hell, that I'm helping you!"

-Line Break-

"Thank you so much for helping me dude!" Grover whispered to me. We were currently hiding behind the bushes in Leo's front yard, because of… Reasons that escape me.

I scowled. "You dragged me here."

Grover just shushed me. "Okay, you see those two there?"

I looked at where he was pointing. I saw a dude who must be _**the **_Charles Beckendorf, and I gotta admit. Yeah, if that guy came up to me and told me to stop doing anything, I would definitely listen.

He was a huge African-American dude with a permanent scowl, muscles like a pro ballplayer's, and hands like catcher's mitts.

I saw him talking to, who I'll assume is Juniper. She was cute, small and petite, with wispy hair the color of amber, and a pretty, kind-of elfish, face

"Yeah."

"Well?"

"Well what?"

He bit the nail of his thumb. "Do you think they're like… dating and stuff?"

"Dating and stuff?" I squinted, trying to discern their relationship through this shrub. "Um, to be honest dude, I can't really tell. They're too far away."

"It's not like we can come any closer! What if they notice us?"

"I don't know dude! It's not like I brought a pair of binoculars with me!"

"Why the hell not?"

I pinched the bridge of my nose. "Dude, I didn't think I'd be spying on anyone at a _party._"

"Bad move hombre, you should always expect that." Leo advised.

Grover and I stilled when we heard his voice. "Is he…?" I asked Grover quietly.

Grover gulped. "Yeah, I think so…"

"So, who we spying on?" Leo asked us nonchalantly.

"Spying? We're not spying!" I tried to say convincingly. "We, uh… We were just…"

"Looking for berries?" Grover suggested 'helpfully'.

Leo and I looked at him incredulously.

"What? Most berries grow on bushes you know, I'll have you know!" Grover explained indignantly.

I just pinched the bridge of my nose.

Leo just grinned and wriggled his eyebrows. "No sweat homies! I _totally _get it! I've hidden in my fair share of bushes. If you know what I mean."

"I don't think I want to." I muttered.

"So? Who we spying on?" Leo repeated.

"No one."

"Aw come on! It's my party, and I want my guests to have a great time. Who knows, maybe I can help you guys?"

Grover started biting on his nails. "Fine. We were spying on…"

"Um, can you repeat the last part? You kind of started mumbling at the part with the names."

He sighed dramatically. "Juniper and Beckendorf."

Leo's eyebrows went up in surprise. "Huh, didn't know you liked my half-brother."

Grover started blushing. "What?"

Leo started grinning, which I'm starting to suspect is actually just his default facial expression. "Yeah, okay. I can work with that!"

Grover shook his head and started spluttering. "What? No! I mean, I think Beckendorf is awesome and all, but I don't… He's not… That's not to say… I'm just not…"

"He likes Juniper." I told Leo, to help Grover out of his, admittedly hilarious, situation.

"Ohh, right, yeah, okay. That makes a lot more sense." Leo muttered. He stood up.

"What are you doing?" I asked him.

He looked at us like we were crazy. "What do you think? Like I said, I'm gonna help you guys."

Grover stood up quickly, eyes wide. "Help us… how?"

"I'm gonna introduce you to Juniper." Leo explained. "Duh."

I stood up, mostly because it was really awkward being the only crouching guy. I mean, don't get me wrong, it was still hella weird, all three of us just casually standing in a bush, but… That's my life now, I guess.

Grover started panicking. "Um, no that's all right. I don't… We shouldn't.. I mean… I'm not mentally ready to-"

"Aw come on!" Leo interrupted good-naturedly. "Life doesn't wait for anyone! If you like someone, you should do something about it."

Grover frowned and looked down. "Well… It's not like I don't _want _to do something about it."

"So why don't you then?" Leo asked him.

Grover gestured to himself. "Look at me dude. How can I compete with Beckendorf."

Leo rolled his eyes with a grin. "Is that what this is about? Dude, it's all good. Beckendorf and Juniper are just buddies. He told me so."

I grinned. "All right! Grover, dude! Here's your chance."

Grover didn't look as happy as I thought he would be. In fact, he looked absolutely terrified. "I don't… I don't know how to talk to girls!"

Leo patted him on the back. "Don't sweat it homey! I'll help you out. Just follow my lead all right?"

Grover was breathing in and out.

I grabbed him by the shoulders and looked into his eyes. "Dude. You're awesome, and you can do this."

"For real?"

I grinned. "For real times a million dude."

He nodded his head and smiled, looking a lot more relieved. "All right. Yeah, you're right. I can do this. I can totally do this."

"That's the spirit!"

"This is so beautiful." Leo commented, looking at us with a happy grin and wiping away a non-existent teardrop. "You guys have a beautiful friendship."

I let go of Grover and looked at him weirdly. "Um… Thanks? Take care of my buddy all right?"

He winked, and grabbed Grover by the shoulder. "You got it dude! You take care of my brother, all right?"

I frowned. "What do you mean, 'take care of your-'"

"Yo Charles! Get your ass over here and meet Annabeth's future boyfriend!" Leo yelled towards Beckendorf.

I felt my face heat up, and my eyes widen. "Dude! What the actual fuck?!"

"Oh, he's coming! That's our cue Grover!" Leo muttered with a manic grin. "Yo Charles, this dude right here is the guy I was talking about!" He patted my shoulder, and winked at me. "Good luck dude!"

I seriously wanted to kill Leo right now.

-Line Break-

I thought about running away, I really did, but I figured—a guy like Charles Beckendorf? I didn't stand a chance.

Then again, I _was _pretty fast, maybe I could find a place to hide?

He reached me before I could make up my mind, and smiled. It was a nice smile, the kind that held nothing but friendliness and curiosity.

"So, _you're _Annabeth's future guy huh?" Were the first words _**the **_Charles Beckendorf spoke to me.

I ran my hands through my hair out of sheer frustration. Why, just _why_, does everyone keep saying that? Don't they know how awful that is? How absolutely impossible that is? Even if by some sheer miracle Annabeth does end up liking me, I could never return her feelings. She deserves better.

I chuckled uncomfortably. "That's uh, that's what everyone keeps calling me, for some reason, but uh, my name is actually Percy."

He put his arm around my shoulders and led me to the steps in front of Leo's house. "All right Percy, I've only got one question: You smoke?"

My mind was racing with the possible implications of the question: Was this a trick question? Should I be honest? Or give the answer that everyone usually prefers? OR would he see right through me?

What should I do?!

I started sweating. "Um…"

He chuckled and patted me on the back. "Relax dude, I'm just asking cause I could really use a smoke right now."

"Ohh, okay, yeah sure, here you go." I said, relieved, giving him my lighter and a cigarette. "Sorry, it's just…"

"You thought I was testing you?" He asked, sitting down to light his cigarette.

"Yeah, pretty much." I admitted sheepishly, joining him on the steps.

He grinned. "Nah, who am I to judge, right? Although don't let Annabeth catch you, she's definitely going to judge."

I snorted. "Yeah, a little too late there." He gave me back my lighter, which I used to light my own cigarette.

"No way! She caught you smoking?" He asked with a disbelieving laugh, the smoke escaping from his nose.. "Ohh, I bet she gave you an earful!"

I grinned, letting out a puff. "Nahh, I was able to stop her before she could really get started."

"No way! How'd you do it?"

"Oh you know, I used my natural charm to change the subject."

"Cool, cool, so… what really happened?"

I started sweating. "Uh, what do you mean?"

"Bro… Come on."

I sighed. "Fine, I used sarcasm and then she called me Seaweed Brain."

Beckendorf furrowed his eyebrows. "Seaweed Brain?"

"Seaweed Brain." I affirmed.

He grinned. "She likes you man."

I looked at him as if he was insane. "Dude, she insulted me. She so does not like me."

"Nah, they always do that. A girl starts insulting you, that's when you know she's into you."

"Makes a lot of sense." I muttered sarcastically.

He shrugged. "If it made any sense, it would be too easy."

I sighed. "Yeah… That would just be the worse."

"So? Do you like her?"

I frowned. "Why does everyone keep thinking that? I barely know her, how could I even begin to think about liking her?"

He exhaled smoke before answering. "Sorry dude, I guess it's in the way you look at her."

"What do you mean?"

He looked up at the sky. "It's just… Your eyes follow her wherever she goes."

"Jesus Christ, really?" I asked, coughing from the surprise, eyes wide and cheeks burning. "Gods, did anyone else notice?"

"Nah, I just like people-watching." He let out a puff of smoke. "Some of the people I sit with, well… Let's just say we don't have a lot in common and leave it at that."

"Did… Did Annabeth notice?" I hated myself for asking that, but I had to know. I didn't even realize I was staring at her like some stalker. Gods.

"Nah… Well… Maybe."

My eyes widened. "_**What**_?! Seriously?!"

He shrugged. "I dunno, I mean, you're not exactly subtle."

I dropped my cigarette and stepped on it. "Well… Thank you for that information. I think I'm gonna go and… start out a new life. It's been nice knowing you, uhh… Tell my friends I'll miss 'em."

He stood up and grabbed me by the arm before I could properly run away. "Dude, chill! She stares at you just as much." He said reassuringly. "Maybe even more."

That got me to stop in my tracks faster than my mother's freshly baked blue chocolate chip cookies.

"…really?"

He grinned triumphantly. Shit. "Really really."

I had to sit down, because… Maybe, just maybe, they were all telling the truth? Annabeth Chase might actually like me. Maybe. I mean, Beckendorf didn't have any reason to lie to me.

My eyes were wide from the shock.

"What do I… What do I do?"

"Well, what do you want to do?"

I ran my hand through my hair. "I don't know! I mean even if I did know, I don't think I'm brave enough to do anything anyway."

He put his hand on my shoulder, I guess to grab my attention. "Do you want to hear a secret?"

I looked at him weirdly. "Um weird time to switch subjects but… sure?"

"Sometimes, all you need is twenty seconds of embarrassing bravery, just literally 20 seconds of insane courage. And I promise you, something great will come of it."

I stared at him, wondering how he was Leo's half-brother.

"Percy?" I heard someone achingly familiar say behind me.

Beckendorf looked behind us, and smirked at me when he saw who it was. I saw the twinkle in his eyes, and… Oh gods… Don't tell me he's going to-

He cleared his throat, looked at his phone and exclaimed dramatically, "Oh, no! It looks like there was an avalanche in the kitchen! Sorry dude, but I've got to go handle this. I'll see you around Percy."

I pinched the bridge of my nose.

Yep. He did it. He actually did it. He ran away.

That bastard. I could definitely see the family resemblance now.

I turned around reluctantly, and came face to face with stormy grey eyes, reigniting the fire within my cheeks. Gods, how much of that conversation did she hear?

"Annabeth… Hey, um… Long time no see." I wanted to slap myself after I said that. Long time no see? What the fuck is wrong with me?

She smiled at me in a way she never did before— it was less of a smile, and more of a seductive smirk really— and _sashayed _towards me, all but demanding my attention without using any words. She smiled, and yeah… Oh, I was done.

Once she reached me, she grabbed my shirt— almost desperately— and stared into my eyes, that damned _smile_ still on her face. Taunting and challenging at the same time.

"Way too long." She purred, her face coming dangerously close to mine. I could smell the alcohol on her breath and leaned back, grabbing her arms and pushing her softly away from me, my hands never leaving her arms.

I frowned. "Annabeth.. Are you drunk right now?"

She winked, her legs somehow swaying even though she was standing still. "Wouldn't you like to know?"

Oh yeah, she was definitely drunk.

I smiled reassuringly. "Right, okay, um… Do you know where Piper is?"

She frowned, looked at me suspiciously and pulled my arms off of her. "Why do you want to know that? Do you _like_ her or something?"

I looked at her weirdly. "What? No!"

She hmphed and rolled her eyes. "Could've fooled me."

I pinched the bridge of my nose. I was way too sober for this right now. "Annabeth, I just want to help you get home safe. You're drunk."

She just crossed her arms and looked away. "Likely story."

I sighed. "You know what? Fine. I'll just call her then."

She gasped, making me look up from my phone. Big mistake. She looked pissed. Really pissed.

I looked around, wondering what on earth could have made her that angry.

"What?" I asked carefully when I couldn't find any obvious source for her anger.

"Piper has your number? Piper McLean?" She asked, looking indignant and offended.

I was at a loss for words, wondering how the hell I got here, and why that offended her so.

"Um… Yeah?"

"I didn't know you guys were such good friends." She said dejectedly.

I frowned, phone in my hand forgotten. "We're not, well… Not really."

"Could've fooled me." She mumbled glumly. "You know what, yeah I should… I should just… go."

I grabbed her arm, frown still on my face. "Hey, Annabeth. Look at me."

She didn't turn around, but, she also didn't pull away from me, so that made me a little bit hopeful. I sighed, "I'm sorry, okay? I don't know what I did wrong, but… I'm sorry."

She pulled her arm away, but turned around, with a frown on her face. " Don't. Don't do that, don't just apologize for the sake of apologizing. Why do guys think that's what we want?"

I ran my hand through my hair out of frustration. It seemed like nothing I did was ever right. " Honestly, I don't know what you want from me Annabeth, I really don't but my gods I wish I did. I wish I did. Because I would give it to you Annabeth, I would give it to you in a heartbeat."

"Whoa, am I interrupting something beautiful here?" Piper asked, smiling suggestively. Of course. Why wouldn't she show up at the worst possible moment? Also, why'd she have to phrase it that way? Seriously, who says it like that?

Annabeth scowled. "No, definitely not."

_Fuck_ this.

I didn't even want to be here anyway.

I threw my arms up in defeat. "You know what, I give up Annabeth, I give up. I can't believe, I even thought for a second that **you** of all people might've liked… No. Forget it. I don't know what you want from me Annabeth; first you say we're friends, but then you act like… and all your friends kept saying that… Ugh, just… Forget it. Forget you, and your friends, all right? This is all just way too complicated for an idiot like me. I'm done."

Now it was me who was walking away. Well, actually it was a cross between walking and jogging, but you get the general idea.

"Percy!" I heard someone yell, I don't know who it was, because I didn't bother turning back.

Fuck them.

The more this night went one, the more lonely and trapped I actually felt.

I didn't belong here, with the sweaty bodies that swarmed the house inside, and drowned themselves in alcohol outside on the porch, all while filling their lungs with smoke until their lungs gave out.

It just confirmed what I already knew deep down, that I didn't belong, and never would.

Fuck this.

* * *

**MapleRose150: Dude, of course I would read the reviews! It's where you guys can let me know how I can improve! :D (Ohh, okay, I'll check it out!)**

**ApollosCreed8: Dude, thank you so much! I'm glad it doesn't come across as forced or clichéd, it's a fine line with stories of this genre. I hope you liked this chapter! (But if you didn't, let me know what and why ;)**

**Jason: Yo, sorry, forgot to reply! Thanks for your review dude, glad you liked the last chapter, and I really hope you liked this one too!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson or the characters, Rick Riordan does.**

The first thing I heard was Nico's groan, which seemed to be the start of a symphony of groans. We were all currently strewn about Grover's living room, dying. Not literally of course, although it sure did feel like that.

"Alcohol… Bad." Travis concluded from the couch, hugging a pillow in a fetal position as if his life depended on it.

"Real bad brother." Connor agreed, his voice coming out muffled, head in between couch cushions by Travis' feet, while the rest of his body was on the floor.

"I think, we should just have a quiet chill day today." Nico proposed with a raspy voice from the floor, covering his eyes with his right arm. "No loud noises. No sudden movements."

"This is all your fault." Bianca groaned out from the armchair above Nico. "You just had to provoke Thalia godsdamned Grace, didn't you?"

Nico just groaned again. "I'm sorry, okay? How could I have known she was going to get a second wind?"

"Idiot. You **never** poke a bear!" She scolded.

"I'm sorry, but we can't all be hunting experts like you." Nico retorted with an eyeroll.

"It's just common sense."

"Well obviously, I seem to lack that."

Bianca just dropped a pillow on his face.

"I know this might be too early to declare," Grover started, sitting up from his precarious position on his huge coffee table, "but no more drinking, ever. No more alcohol."

"Agreed." I croaked out from my makeshift bed, which in reality was just two chairs, placed beside the coffee table, somehow holding up an inflatable matrass, whose origin is unknown. Seriously, I have no idea where this matrass came from, it wasn't Grover's and I brought a sleeping bag. Shit, was I still drunk? "I'm so done with drinking."

"Here here." Connor and Travis agreed.

"No more beer pong." Bianca decided.

"Especially against Thalia." Nico added sourly. "Never again."

"It's decided." Grover announced.

"Great, that's all folks. That's all we're going to do for the day." Connor proposed.

"Hey guys…" Travis started slowly, frown getting more pronounced with each word. He let go of the pillow, "Where is Katie?"

We all sat up quickly, which was definitely a mistake. Way too quickly, it made everyone sickly. Yeah, maybe I was still drunk.

"Shit, why did I drink so much?" Grover wondered with obvious regret, rubbing his temples.

Bianca shook her head once, before deciding that that wasn't such a good idea, and instead buried her head in her hands. "I don't know about you, but I know why _I _drank so much. It's cause if this jerk right here." She put her hand on Nico 's shoulder and squeezed at the last part.

He scowled. "Nuh-uh, if anything it's all Thalia's fault!"

She rolled her eyes. "It always is, just like that time you 'accidentally' pushed me into that fountain."

"That was her fault! _She _pushed you! It is _always_ her fault!"

She smirked, making Nico uncomfortable.

"What?"

She just shook her head, that smirk still on her face.

"_What_?!" Nico pressed.

She shrugged. "I don't know, you sure do seem preoccupied with _Thalia_."

Nico rolled his eyes, looking a lot more nauseous than he did a minute ago. "Oh, shut up. You better shut _that thought_ down right now."

"Guys, we can, and **will**, tease Nico later. We've got to focus on finding Katie right now!" Travis reminded them.

Connor put his arm around Travis. "It's okay bro, we'll find her, all right?"

Travis nodded his head. "Yeah, all right."

Before we could even start brainstorming plans for finding Katie, she came through Grover's front door humming, holding in one hand that weird egg carton thingy that you get at coffee places when your order multiple coffees, and in the other a paper bag with what smells like a bunch of pastries.

"Katie!" We all exclaimed loudly at the same time.

She shook, almost dropping everything she was holding. She set everything down on Grover's dining room table, clutching her heart. "What the hell are you all doing? You scared the crap out of me."

"You want me to check?" Travis proposed, wriggling his eyebrows suggestively.

Katie just made a disgusted face in return, which, yeah that was disgusting. "You want to check me… _for_ _crap_?"

Travis grimaced. "Ew, what? No! I just meant… Ugh just… Never mind."

She shook her head, now grinning, for once having the upper hand. "No no, please. Elaborate. What did you mean by that exactly?"

Travis blushed. "Nothing! I'm hungover, I wasn't thinking straight. Can you just drop it? Please?"

"I don't know, I'm with Katie on this one, what _did _you mean Travis?" Connor asked with a smirk.

Travis buried his face under a pillow, lying back down on the couch. "I'm way too hungover for this."

Katie rolled her eyes good-naturedly. "Oh, I see. So you can dish it out, but you can't take it?"

Connor was grinning all throughout their exchange. "Oooh, she's got you there bro."

Travis lifted the pillow off of his face slowly, and sat up again. "You done did it now son. You just said the magic words."

Grover cleared his throat. "As fun as this is—and trust me it is—I've gotta know, where you been Katie?"

She blinked, breaking the intense eye-contact between her and Travis, and looked at Grover's direction. "Oh, well, after I saw how drunk you all were yesterday, I figured, you know, you'd all have raging hangovers, and there was no way I could drag you out of Grover's. It was a miracle I was able to get you all home safely at all yesterday."

"You got us home safely?" Nico asked her, sounding surprised and touched.

She nodded her head, sitting down and taking a sip from her cup. "Never again though. I mean Percy you helped a little, but the moment we got home you drank all the tequila and then well…"

"And that would explain why my hangover is as bad as it is." I realized, joining her at the table. "I can't believe you got us breakfast. You're literally the best."

She grinned, and looked at everyone, who had the same idea as I did. "Are you kidding me? Of course I did. I love you idiots!"

I felt my heart swell up at that. Gods, how'd I get so lucky? Seriously, I didn't deserve friends as awesome as them.

Grover grinned, grabbing the tea she picked up for him instead of coffee. "Seriously, you're the best Katie! I could just about kiss you right now!"

Katie scrunched up her face. "How about you save those for Juniper, lover-boy."

Grover blushed at that.

"I love you too!" Bianca exclaimed, hugging her. "And, you know, the rest of you too."

"Gee, thanks." Nico deadpanned, sandwiched between the Stoll twins.

"Aw, cheer up Nico-boy, we love you too!" Connor said with a grin, grabbing Nico and giving him a noogie.

Nico pushed him away. "Cut that out!"

"Not until you say you love us too." Travis said, grabbing Nico in this weird sideways hug.

Nico scowled. "Percy didn't say he loved us either."

Everyone stared at me after Nico said that. I was in the middle of taking a bite from a blueberry muffin, feeling very much put on the spot there. I shot him a glare.

"What?"

"Well?" Grover asked me.

I furrowed my eyebrows. "Well what?"

"Do you love us?" Travis wondered.

I snorted. "That's a stupid question! Of course I do… well, as much as one _can_ love a group of people he's known for a short time."

"Good enough!" Grover announced.

Everyone turned their attention towards Nico, who looked very uncomfortable.

"Your turn." Travis told him with a smirk.

Nico sighed. "Fine. I… love you guys too, I guess." He grumbled with a blush. "There. You guys happy?"

"Very." Connor answered, taking a bite from a jelly-filled donut.

"Well, now that that's out of the way, what's the plan for the day?" Katie wondered.

Nico set down his coffee. "I was thinking we should have a chill quiet day today."

Katie all but collapsed into her seat, letting out a sigh of relief. "Oh thank gods."

Everyone looked at her weirdly.

"What? Why are you all staring at me like that?"

"Um…" Travis started. "Everything okay there Katie?"

"Oh yeah, no, everything's fine. I'm just still exhausted from last night! Next time, someone else is going to be party mom."

"I mean, all things considered, I think we did pretty good for our first party." Connor announced.

"True, we made it all back in one piece." Bianca agreed.

"Oh, I talked to Juniper by the way." Grover said casually.

Everyone stopped what they were doing and stared at him.

Grover set down his tea. "What?"

"You only tell us this _now_?!" Connor yelled.

Grover grabbed his head. "Dude, ow. Did you forget about the hangover?"

"Screw that!" Travis said in the same volume. "Dude! That's big news!"

"Yeah! How could you not tell us the moment you sat down?" Nico asked him with wide eyes.

Grover shrugged, holding back a grin. "I don't know, there were more important things to talk about."

"Never mind that." Bianca muttered. "So?"

"So… what?"

"So what happened with Juniper?!" Katie asked him impatiently.

"I talked to her."

I rolled my eyes. "Yes, we already knew _that_. But how'd it go?"

Grover grinned, obviously enjoying our impatience. "Sorry, I couldn't resist messing with you guys. But yeah, Leo introduced me to her and guys…"

"Yeah?!" We all but shouted.

Grover sighed, looking out of the window. "She's the one! Gods, she's amazing. We spent all night talking, she's so funny, and smart and I just… I'd literally give up my left arm for a date with her."

"Shit dude, that's when you know it's for real." Connor commented.

Katie snorted. "Oh so _that's _how you know it?"

Travis nodded his head seriously.

She shook her head. "You guys are ridiculous."

"I even got her number!" Grover said excitedly.

"Way to go man!" I complimented him proudly. "See? I knew you could do it!"

"Yeah, you were totally right." Grover said happily. "Oh, hey what about you?"

"What about me?"

"Well, I saw you talk to Annabeth by the steps."

I stiffened. Oh gods. Annabeth. For one glorious moment, I forgot about her and everything else.

"Oh, uh… Yeah, no… I don't think that'll work out." I admitted.

Everyone frowned.

"What do you mean?" Katie asked.

I gulped down my coffee. "What do you mean, what do I mean?"

Nico looked around. "Is anyone else confused?"

Travis nodded. "Yeah, I didn't get that. What are we talking about?"

Katie pinched the bridge of her nose. "I mean, Percy, why do you think it won't work out?"

I sighed. "Well… For one, she's insane."

Grover frowned. "Who? Annabeth?"

"Yeah, who else?"

"Annabeth Chase?" Bianca asked.

"**Yes**! Is there any other Annabeth I could be talking about?" I said, frustrated.

"Sorry dude, it's just.. She doesn't _seem _insane." Connor explained.

"Well she is. She's absolutely out of her mind."

"Are you sure?" Travis asked skeptically.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure. She.. She got mad at for nothing."

"What'd you do?" Grover asked.

I sighed. "I don't know! One minute she's practically throwing herself at me, at least I think she was, and the next she's furious at me because of Piper."

"Piper?" Katie repeated slowly. "What does Piper have to do with it?"

I threw my hands in the air. "Nothing! That's why I'm so confused. She's just… Way too complicated."

Bianca rubbed her temples. "Okay, wait… Could you maybe start from the beginning? What happened?"

I ran my hand through my hair. "Well, first she drags me up to the roof because she wanted to talk to me. And then we almost… We almost… you know…"

"Had sex?" Connor asked slowly with wide eyes.

I choked on my own spit, somehow. "What?! No! How would we even…? How would that even…? Ugh, never mind. We almost kissed, but then her phone rang, so I uh, I high-tailed out of there."

Nico frowned. "Why?"

"Because, it was super awkward! I didn't know what to do, and she said she wanted to be _friends. _Friends don't kiss each other!" I explained incredulously. "Besides, I don't know if I want to get involved with her."

"Why not?" Travis asked.

I looked down. "She's just… She's way out of my league."

"Dude, have you looked into a mirror?" Connor asked me incredulously. "You're like, a ten. I don't know why you wear that beanie, you look way better without it."

"Yeah, why do you wear that beanie?" Bianca wondered.

I rubbed my temples. "It's a long, a really long, story that I don't want to get into right now. But the short version is, I don't want people to pay attention to me."

"And that's why you don't want to be with Annabeth." Grover realized.

I sighed. "Yeah, pretty much. Wherever she goes, she grabs people's attention, and I just can't deal with that. I mean, apparently Luke hates me now."

"Oh, yeah… I can see that. He's had his eyes set on Annabeth for a while now." Travis said with a nod.

"Wait, if you ran away, how could she have gotten mad at you?" Katie wondered.

"Oh, that was later in the evening. Yeah, it was after I helped Grover spy on Juniper and Beckendorf." I explained.

"What?!" Everyone, but me and Grover, yelled.

Nico rubbed his temples. "Wait, so… You guys spied on… When… Why… What?!"

"Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention that part." Grover muttered. "We spied on them because…"

"Grover was drunk." I explained.

"Right yeah, that's why."

"And then Leo at some point joined us." I added.

Katie pinched the bridge of her nose. "Oh my gods, you guys suck at telling stories."

I shrugged. "Give me a break, we were drunk!"

"Yeah!" Grover agreed.

"Ignoring that part for a second, when did Annabeth get mad at you exactly?" Bianca asked.

"Around the time Beckendorf ran away." I answered.

"When did you talk to Beckendorf? You know what, never mind that." Travis said. "So what happened?"

"Well, she grabbed me by my shirt and-"

"-holy shit, she kissed you!" Connor concluded excitedly.

"No, I kind of pulled away."

"Why?!"

"She was so drunk! Anyway, I asked her about Piper, you know, so that she could go home safely. And then, I don't know, all of a sudden she got mad at me? Especially when I wanted to call Piper."

"Ohh, I think I get it." Katie exclaimed.

My eyes widened. "Seriously?"

She nodded her head. "Yeah, I think so. Do you have Annabeth's number?"

"Um, no I don't think so."

"But you do have Piper's?" Bianca asked me.

"Yeah, well.. She heard me give it to Leo, so…"

"Ah, yeah I get why she was mad." Bianca commented.

"She likes you." Katie explained, when she saw my confused expression.

I scoffed. "Yeah, right."

"I'm with Percy on this one, I don't get it." Nico said with a frown.

All the other guys nodded in agreement.

The girls just rolled their eyes.

"She's jealous." Bianca announced.

I frowned. "Of Piper?"

"Yeah, duh." Katie answered.

I pinched the bridge of my nose. "But I don't like Piper! I like… Never mind."

"You should should let her know that." She advised me.

"I did, I told her that! I told her I didn't like Piper. She didn't believe me."

"Well, of course she didn't! Actions speak louder than words."

"What? When did my actions make her think I like Piper? I didn't do anything with her."

Bianca sighed. "Well, Piper has your number, but Annabeth doesn't."

"Oh, I think I finally get it." Grover exclaimed. "Dude, she probably thinks you text Piper all the time and that's why she got mad. She thinks you like Piper."

I wanted to bang my head on the table. "But I don't!"

"Well, she doesn't know that." He explained.

"At this point, I don't care anymore. She can think whatever she wants, I'm done."

"What? You can't be done! You can't just give up now!" Travis exclaimed.

"Yeah, you're so close dude!" Connor agreed.

"Dude, she's way too complicated for me, all right? All I wanted was to survive this year with little to no drama. That's all."

"But you like her!" Grover insisted.

"Well, I don't anymore." I admitted, hoping I convinced them more than I convinced myself. "Maybe, for a second there, I thought I did, but…"

"But?"

"But I'm exhausted. It's been what? One week, and it's already complicated. Can you imagine what it's going to be like in a year?" I shivered at the thought.

"How about we all calm down, and go watch some Netflix?" Nico suggested, trying to diffuse the situation.

"That sounds like a great idea." Katie exclaimed.

I sighed. "Yeah, let's just do that instead. This whole Annabeth business is giving me a headache."

-Line Break-

TIME SKIP: MONDAY

You know, now that I think of it, going to that party was the best thing that could've happened to me. Maybe now, I'd get that peaceful year I was dreaming of. I mean, I obviously screwed up whatever I had with Annabeth, which means she'll leave me alone. And if she left me alone, her friends would surely follow suit. Right? That makes sense.

I tugged my beanie lower, setting down my things on my usual desk at the back. I mean, I felt kind of bad at how I left things with her, but she wouldn't listen to me. Although… I guess I could've tried harder to make her understand. Or at least asked her for her number. She _was _drunk, I should've tried to contact her the morning after or something.

I shook my head. No. I'm not doing this to myself. I'm not going to convince myself to make up with her. This was for the best. So what if Annabeth hated me? So what if that thought made my heart ache a little? Who cares?

Right at that moment, Annabeth entered, flanked by Piper and Leo, with Jason trailing not far behind. She looked at me for a second, before quickly averting her gaze. I hated how my heart stung at that.

I clenched my jaw, and looked down. This was good, this was exactly what I wanted. All I have to do is mind my own business, and avoid looking at Annabeth at all cost, and I'm golden. I put my head on the desk, just to make sure I don't do anything stupid, like stare at her excessively. It's for the best if I don't know where she decided to sit down.

"All right class, I hope you all had a great weekend." Mr. Blofis said after everyone settled down. "As you all should recall, last week I asked you all to write down a short description of a person in this class, using kenning."

My head shot up at that. We had homework?!

Crap.

Crap, crap, crap.

Maybe I could do the work now while he collects it?

…

But what the hell is _kenning_?!

I pinched the bridge of my nose. You know what, I'll just… Not hand it in I guess, and get an F. Whatever. Who cares?

"Now, I thought it would be more fun if each of you read out your descriptions, and we all tried to guess who you were trying to describe." Mr. Blofis suggested.

Leo's hand shot up. "Instead of a regular class?"

Mr. Blofis grinned. "Yeah, why not? We're ahead of schedule anyways. Unless anyone has a problem with this?"

Oh gods.

Screwed.

I was so utterly and spectacularly screwed right now.

I looked through my notes, wishing, hoping, praying against all odds, I actually wrote down what the hell kenning was. Gods, why didn't I pay attention?!

No such luck.

Now, I know what you're thinking: Why the hell don't I just look it up on my phone, like a normal person? Mr. Blofis only has one rule: No phones in his class. And despite how much I suck at his class, he's a great dude, very understanding, and I don't want to break his one rule.

I banged my head against my desk softly in frustration. Why am I such a fucking idiot?!

Right at that moment, I felt a wad of paper hit my cheek.

I looked around, but everyone seemed to be preoccupied right now. Great, just great, looks like somebody decided to kick me while I'm down. That's just… great.

I laid down my head on the desk, resigning myself to my fate, when I felt yet another paper wad hit me— it was my head his time. I looked around, but again, everyone seemed preoccupied.

The wad turned out to be a note.

_Hey, r u ok?_

_-Jason_

I frowned, not expecting that. I figured after the whole 'Annabeth debacle', her friends would be so done with me. Maybe he's just being nice? Either way, I decided to write back to him.

_Yeah I just 4got 2 do the homework…_

_-Percy_

I looked around before throwing the paper ball at him. I saw him make an understanding face after he read my note.

_Oh shit. U gonna b ok?_

_-Jason_

I had to admit… I was oddly touched that he cared so much. I shook my head, no, I am not getting involved with Annabeth's friends. Nope. Nope, nope, nope.

_Yeah, dw abt it! Thanks tho._

_-Percy_

I saw him frown after he read my note.

_Oh, well if u need any help just cough. Btw, kenning = condensed metaphor used instead of a simple noun in OE lit. e.g.: bone-house = body_

_-Jason_

I blinked, surprised that he was helping me, especially after… Well, you know… I saw him whisper something to Piper and Leo, who both then looked over at me, concern evident in their gaze. That can't be good.

"All right, since everybody seems to be on board, let's get started. Any volunteers?" Mr. Blofis said loudly to regain everyone's attention.

I tried to make myself as small as possible, because let's face it, if there was any chance of me finishing this assignment, it would lay in the fact that I had to be the last one called up.

"No volunteers? If nobody volunteers, I will choose at random." Mr. Blofis warned. When he saw no change, he shrugged and grabbed the list of names.

"Per-" He started, my heart dropping, until Jason shot up from his chair like a man struck by lightning.

"Um, actually Mr. Blofis, I would love to go first." He yelled out.

Mr. Blofis blinked, just as surprised as the rest of us. "Oh… all right then. Go right ahead."

Jason shot him a good-natured smile in return, walking up to the front of the class with his assignment. He shot me a wink, before he started reading. That's when I realized, he did that on purpose. He knewMr. Blofis was going to say my name, and he _knew_ I wasn't ready at all….

Oh my gods, he sacrificed himself… For me.

Ah crap.

Now I owed him.

I definitely owed him, big time. Dammit Jason, why'd you have to be a standup guy? Why couldn't you just be some cliché popular jock, who's also a jerk?

I sighed. That's unfair, obviously people are more complex than that. And I definitely appreciated him being so nice to me. But gods, this really complicated things, you know?

Well, I guess I shouldn't look at a gift horse in the mouth, and try to think up a description for someone in this class using (ugh) kenning. Besides, I could make it up to Jason somehow. I mean, at least I don't owe anyone else anything.

-Line Break-

So, it turns out Jason isn't the only person I owed something to after all.

The situation was becoming increasingly complicated as the class went on. Yeah, every time Mr. Blofis even uttered the first syllable of my name, one of Annabeth's friends spoke up, giving me that much more time to complete this damn assignment, and one more person I owed something to.

In fact, I actually gained an extra week thanks to them, since we didn't have enough time for everyone.

I pinched the bridge of my nose. Great. Just great. So now, I owed Jason, Leo and Piper something. A favor, a lunch, you name it.

One notable line from Leo's description of Piper that I had to just jot down, and which Mr. Blofis reluctantly had to count as kenning, was:

_She's my best bench mate, and I must admit, she put the __**bone**__ in many a men's bone-houses._

"So, who did you describe in your homework?" I asked Grover during gym. We were supposed to be playing badminton, but since we were stationed in the far end of the gym (far far away from the coach) we were just chilling instead.

He dropped the badminton racket he was holding. "We had homework?"

I stared him, incredulous. "You're kidding me, right?"

He narrowed his eyes and grinned hesitantly. "Are you messing with me?"

I frowned. "No! Are _you_ messing with me?"

Now it was his turn to frown. "No of course not! Wait, so we really had homework?"

I pinched the bridge of my nose. "See? This is exactly why you shouldn't skip English class. Or any class for that matter."

Grover looked sheepish at that. "Yeah uh… Sorry about that dude, I'm just not really a morning person."

"Oh, and you think I am? Hell to the no dude."

"So, what did we have to do?"

"Well, we had to write a description of someone in the class, using kenning."

"Kenning?"

I sighed, absolutely sick and tired of that word. "Yeah, apparently it's some kind of metaphor or something? I don't know dude."

"Oh… Shit. I really have to start paying attention in class." Grover realized.

I face-palmed. "Dude, I thought you were smart?"

"Nah man, I don't know where you got that idea."

"Oh my gods, I'm so screwed. _We're _so screwed." I said with a resigned sigh.

He grinned good-naturedly, not a care in the world. "Dude, chill. We'll figure it out somehow. Hell, I've gotten this far already without any kind of smarts."

"Yeah but… We can't rely on luck forever. I mean, shouldn't we… I don't know… Have some kind of study plan or something? We're so far behind already, and it's only the beginning of the year."

"Percy, Percy, Percy… You worry too much. Like I said, we'll figure it out somehow. Besides, we've got bigger fish to fry."

"What fish?"

"You know, the whole Annabeth-sitch."

"Wh… I…Don't change the subject!" I spluttered.

Grover just tsk'ed. "Look man, you can't ignore it forever. Sooner or later, you're gonna have to deal with it."

Before I could retort, the coach blew his whistle. "All right cupcakes, time to switch partners."

"This isn't over! We have talk about this!" I yelled at Grover, who just pointed at his ears and shook his head. I _knew_ he heard me. Bastard.

"Hey amigo." A familiar voice greeted me. Not gonna lie, I shook when I heard that voice.

I turned around, and came face to face with… Piper.

I looked at her weirdly. "Um… Hey?"

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Well I just… Since when do you say amigo? Isn't that kind of Leo's thing?"

She lifted one of her eyebrows and gasped. "Are you saying I'm not allowed to use Spanish words, just because I'm not Mexican?"

My eyes widened, and my cheeks started burning. "What? No! Of course not! That's not what I…"

"Racism!"

"Oh my gods! No! I didn't mean it like that! I just… I was… You…"

She giggled, making me realize she was totally messing with me.

I frowned, but couldn't stop my grin from forming. "That was mean."

"Aw come on, as if you wouldn't have done the exact same thing if you were in my position."

"…"

"Exactly." She said with a triumphant grin.

I sighed. "Fine. You want to serve or…?"

"What?"

I held up the badminton racket.

"Oh no no no no no, we are waay past badminton amigo."

I furrowed my eyebrows. What did that… What did that even mean?

"Uh… what?"

She rolled her eyes. "Don't play dumb dude. You _know_ what I'm talking about."

I scratched my head. "I really, really don't."

"Jesus Christ, how drunk _were _you if you forgot?" Piper wondered. "Hello, you and Annabeth?"

I pinched the bridge of my nose in exasperation. "Oh my gods, why the hell are you guys _this _interested in our quote unquote 'relationship'? I feel like I'm back in middle school, in the worst way possible."

"Aw come on, don't be like that. I just want you crazy kids to be happy!"

"Oh please, no you don't! I'm not really sure what your motivations are exactly, but I find it hard to believe you're meddling in our affair this much for purely altruistic reasons."

"And what is _that_ supposed to mean?" Piper asked crossly.

"Come on Piper, be real with me. Why are you trying to bring Annabeth and me closer? What's in it for you? A bet? Revenge?"

"Ohh, I get it. I'm the popular girl, so therefore I'm just a backstabbing bitch, right? That's how it works?"

"No! That's now what I meant, it's just-"

"It's what you implied though, isn't it?"

I sighed. "Fine, yes maybe it is. But-"

"Save it Jackson." She interrupted with an eyeroll, grabbing her racket from the ground. "Forget you."

This time, she was the one doing the walking away, while I was on the receiving end, my words thrown back at me.

Why was this all so complicated?

* * *

**Hey, hi, hello! Yes, I'm still alive, and No I don't know when the next chapter will be done... On the one hand, I'm so far behind my schoolwork already, on the other hand, I am kind of a chronic procrastinator, so it's really anyone's guess when the next chapter will be out. Either way, I hope you're all doing well, as well as your friends and families! I also hope you like the story so far, and if you have any critiques or suggestions, I am all ears!**

* * *

**RandomFanAuthor: Ha yeah, poor guy indeed. And it seems like I have more in store for him (it'll be so worth it tho! I hope xD) I'm glad you really like it tho! You have no idea how awesome it feels for me, to know someone out there (possible more than just 1 person even) _likes _my story. Fucking amazing.**

**MapleRose150: Dude, you're awesome! Seriously, I cannot thank you enough for your encouragement, and I hope you're doing well :)**

**Guest: Ha, thanks a lot my dude :)**

**ApollosCreed8: Hey, no worries man! You don't owe me a review or anything :) And yeah, thanks! I love Rick Riordan's 'side'-characters, he really knows how to make his fans care for them. And Beckendorf? To this day I'm still not over his death :( I mean, I understand why it happened, but shit man... Anyhow, I'm really glad you like the plot, the pace, the character thoughts and interactions. I have a tendency to overthink everything, so I'm constantly worrying about some aspect of this story xD. Also, a big thanks for the advise/warning! I constantly worry my characters lack depth, so I want people to root for them, while still having flaws, and I just... Ugh, some days it feels like I'm totally directionless, and it's all pointless. But then I think of you guys, and find some motivation! God, I'm sorry for my long ramble. Thanks for your review, and don't worry about it! For someone who isn't a native English speaker, you're doing a better job than a lot of people in my English Linguistics class ;)**

**Izzie0929: And I LOVE you my dude! Review soon please! (Just kdding, do whatever you want! ;)**


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson, or the characters, Rick Riordan does.**

There's this old Yiddish proverb I really wish I had heeded.

Most people probably know the Woody Allen quote: "If you want to make God laugh, tell him about your plans." but I prefer the original: "We plan, God laughs." It's not as polished, but just as true.

Whether you believe in a higher being or not, one universal truth that I've learned so far is, life is never going to go the way you want it to. In fact, if you do happen to have a plan, it seems like something, someone, somewhere out there is dead set on disrupting that plan.

Take my situation for example. All I've wanted, all I've ever wanted really, is to be left alone. Maybe I'd have a friend or two, but for the most part, I planned to be unnoticeable. What did I get instead? Blessed with an amazing group of friends (that part doesn't suck I guess), and cursed by Annabeth and her crew.

And I know, I know, I've been dealt a pretty good hand all things considered, and believe it or not I am grateful for everything I've been blessed with so far. I'd take high school drama over having to live with Gabe all day, any day. I'm just tired, so tired, of ending up in situations I am grossly unequipped for (emotionally as well as social skills-wise).

There's gotta be a way to fix everything without somehow becoming one of her friends. I just… I have to think up a plan. A plan to fix everything. A plan where I make up with Annabeth and Piper and… return the favor I owe to Jason and Leo and Piper… Oh, gods. There's so much to take into account with this plan. Not to mention I have to find a job somewhere along the way and avoid Luke, who apparently still hates me by the way.

Gods, everything was so complicated right now. That is exactly why I decided to have lunch on the roof, just like I used to. All right fine, yes, I'm also stressed out beyond belief and needed to sneak a cigarette or two. Desperately. Don't judge me.

Oh. Hold up, wait a minute, wait a second here.

What if I just did nothing?

I mean, having a couple of people hate me isn't ideal, but you know… I could live with that for two years. Besides, I never wanted to be popular and with the way things are right now, I never will be. Annabeth and Piper will move on, Luke won't hate me because of it, and Jason and Leo will just… Ask me for a favor when the time comes I guess. And if they don't, well there's not much I can do about it, right? Maybe the plan is to do nothing.

Yeah, do nothing.

I could do that. Or better said… I could do nothing. That's certainly the easiest course of action (or I guess inaction in this case?). And yet… Why did that leave me feeling, well, awful? Shitty beyond belief?

Damnit. I blame my mom for that. No, I guess this time it is completely my fault. I should own up to it. Godsdammit. I hate this situation so much. What am I supposed to do?

Do I just… go up to Annabeth and apologize? And what about Piper? Would Annabeth get mad at me again if I try to make up with Piper afterward? So should I make up with Piper first? Or, would that make Annabeth mad with me if she found out I made up with Piper before her? Or would Piper be mad at me if I just never apologize? OR…

Oh, my gods, this could go on forever.

I took a drag from my cigarette.

Okay, maybe I should start simple: How should I proceed?

…

Crap.

"Dude, what are you doing?"

I shook when I heard that. Shit. I was so busted.

I turned around, heart pounding, ready to face whoever would be standing there, and…

It was Leo. Jesus, I almost got a heart attack because of Leo Valdez. Again.

"What does it look like? I'm pretty much accelerating my death with a cigarette." I muttered, looking down at the school.

"Yeah no, I get that. I mean, what are you doing later?" Leo specified, making his way toward me and leaning against the railing.

"Uh, nothing I guess. Why?" I asked, suspicious of his motives.

"Cause I want us to hang out, later seemed like a great time." He explained, taking out his packet and lighting it up.

"Um, okay? But— wait I didn't know you smoked."

He took a long drag before he spoke. "Yeah, well I don't like to brag about it or anything. I'm certainly not like proud of it. It's just… Sometimes life gets to you, you know? And the only thing you feel like you can do is… this. Although if I could, I'd go back in time and stop myself from ever starting."

I let out a humorless chuckle at that. I know Leo seemed happy all the time, but this kind of made me wonder: Was he really happy all the time? I really hope he was.

"Yeah, I guess I kind of get it. Hey, you said 'us' earlier. Who's this us?"

"Well, there's you and me." He said with a cheeky grin.

I was definitely not amused. I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, I kind of got that already. I mean who else is included in this 'us'?"

"So there's you and me, Jason, Frank, Hazel, your friends, if they're up for it I mean, and um…"

"Let me guess, Annabeth and Piper?" I finished.

He grinned uncomfortably. "Yeah, there's a big possibility they're um…. They're included in that 'us'. And when I say big possibility, I actually mean not a single doubt."

"That's… awesome. Just awesome. Super awesome, in fact. Oh, by the way in a totally unrelated matter, I don't think I can make it after all. I just remembered I did have plans later, I uh… I have to go and… organize my… bookshelf." I winced at the last part. That excuse suuucked.

"Organize your bookshelf?" Leo repeated slowly with a disbelieving grin on his face. "Sure Percy, I totally believe you."

"All right fine, yes, that was a lie." I admitted, annoyed at my lack of creativity and improvisational skills.

He gasped dramatically. "No! Seriously? So you weren't really going to organize your bookshelf later?"

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, yeah, ham it up, whatever. It's just… It's gonna be super awkward if I hang out with you guys. I don't know if you've noticed, but I seem to have a gift for fucking shit up between me and girls."

"Dude, that's not a gift. That's an ability literally every guy possesses. It's like, in our jeans or something."

"I don't know if I'd go that far. I mean, it's not like some exclusive guy-gene type of thing, right? Girls fuck shit up between themselves too. Granted, it is in a very different way than when we fuck shit up, but still…"

He shook his head and looked down at his jeans in wonder. "I'm serious dude, it's like in our jeans or something, if I had to guess it's our pockets. We have like, better pockets than them, they're crazy good. It pisses them off, which I totally get man. Our jeans rule. You know I once snuggled in two bottles of Mountain Dew to the movies thanks to these pockets right here."

I frowned, trying to make sense of all this new, slightly irrelevant information. "Huh? What…? How...? Why…? I'm so confused? I feel like we're talking about two similar-sounding, but very different things right now. Are you saying genes? Or _jeans_?"

"Dude, I feel like you just said the same thing twice." He said seriously, shaking his head in confusion.

"Um no, no no, I most definitely did not say the same things twice."

"I don't know what to tell you dude, they sound exactly the same to me."

I pinched the bridge of my nose. "You know what, I can't… I can't even… argue with that logic right now. Look, forget that, it's not even important at the moment. I just think it's for the best if I don't come along. What are you guys even going to do?"

"I don't know it's a school night, so you know, nothing crazy. We could chill out in my place, I've got a pool and stuff. Plus, bonus: you can work your shit out in peace, there are lots of places you can talk in private." He answered, wiggling his eyebrows at the last part.

"Come on."

"No, you come on. I'm serious dude, I want to help you guys out."

"I know I've regretted this each time, but… Why? Why do you want to help?"

He looked at his cigarette pensively. "That's… a difficult question to answer."

I thought back to all the times I asked it, and yeah, I have to admit that based on past experiences alone, that was a difficult question to answer. Maybe I should stop asking it altogether.

I was about to apologize and tell him it didn't matter, but he started talking again, still avoiding my gaze.

"I guess I want to help you guys, because well… You're my friends. I know it might be early to say that, but that's just the way I feel. And for me, friends means family." He confessed earnestly, putting out his cigarette. "Always."

I put my cigarette out, soaking in his words. "Wow. Just, wow, I… I don't even know what to say, man. I mean, I feel that way too. And to be honest, it kind of scares me a bit. Okay, a shit ton."

He grinned and everything felt, well… right again. "Yeah, it's a scary thing my friend, but definitely worth it if you ask me. Look, I'm not gonna force you to come, that's not what I'm all about. But… I do hope you can make it. I know everyone would love it if you were there."

I looked at him skeptically. "Even Annabeth and Piper?"

He thought about it a while, before giving me his signature grin. "Especially Piper and Annabeth. I know they probably won't admit it, but they're glad you're in their lives. Trust me, I've known them since forever they're basically family at this point."

And with that, our lunch period ended. I still didn't have a plan, hell I still wasn't sure how to proceed, but… I did have a start now. An awful, awkward, absolutely horrible start, but it was still something. All thanks to, and because of, Leo.

Dammit.

Now I owe him two favors.

-Line Break-

"Where'd you go? We missed you at lunch." Grover told me once I sat down beside him. It looks like Ms. Alecto was late. Again. I swear, that woman is perpetually late – except for the few occasions where I'm late, suddenly she's early. She's like a fun vampire or something, but instead of sucking blood she just plain sucks.

"The roof. I needed to think about some stuff, without feeling like everyone was observing me." I explained.

"Ohh, about Annabeth huh?" Connor wondered, looking at me sympathetically.

"Yeah pretty much. Oh and about Piper too." I answered.

All three guys frowned at that.

"Piper?" Connor repeated.

"Why are you thinking about Piper?" Grover asked me.

Travis nodded. "Yeah, my same question."

I pinched the bridge of my nose. "Um, well… I uh, I kind of.. pissed her off."

"Ohh, so is that why she's been sending daggers your way with her eyes?" Grover asked me, subtly nodding his head towards Piper who was indeed glaring at me pretty intensely. Man if looks could kill, she'd be the perfect assassin.

I dropped my head onto my desk, covering it with my hands. "Yeah, pretty much."

"I'm confused, when… how… why the hell did you piss her off?" Travis wondered.

I sighed. "Can we talk about this later? At recess or something?"

"Is it that long of a story?"

"Not at all, but with us, there's no such thing as a 'short story' so…"

"And Ms. Alecto really hates your guts." Grover added 'helpfully'.

I nodded my head, resigned to that fact. "Yeah, that too."

Right then, she entered the classroom and sent her signature scathing look my way. Lovely, now I have two women glaring at me here. That's just… Lovely. It seems like my patented Percy-charm is at full blast today.

"Speak of the devil." Connor muttered.

"Well, we are in her domain, hell, so…" I commented, making the guys snicker.

"Mr. Jackson!" Ms. Alecto said loudly. "Is there something you want to share with the class?"

I shook my head, hoping that my face wasn't as red as it felt. "Uh, no ma'am, I don't think that would be um… Appropriate. There's absolutely nothing interesting going on over here. Right guys?"

My friends, luckily, had my back and nodded their heads.

"He's right, we weren't laughing at something he said, we were just uh… coughing." Travis explained.

"Coughing?" Ms. Alecto repeated slowly, eyes narrowed in suspicion. "You expect me to believe that?"

Connor nodded his head profusely. "Your suspicion is totally understandable, but in this case, misplaced. We really were all coughing because of uhh…"

"Because of the smoking!" Grover exclaimed excitedly until he realized he probably shouldn't be that excited to announce that. He cleared his throat.

"I mean, because of the smoking." He repeated, this time sounding appropriately ashamed.

I pinched the bridge of my nose, before deciding to just… go with it I guess... "Yep, that was exactly what happened. It all checks out, smokers cough a lot, we're all definitely known smokers, and that's why we were coughing. It truly is an awful habit."

She rolled her eyes. "I don't care, just don't waste my time. One more outburst such as this one, one more peep from any of you, and it's detention for all four of you, no exceptions. Do I make myself clear?"

"Crystal clear." Travis and Connor said at the same time. Something tells me this isn't the first time they've been at this end of that sentence if their coordination has anything to do with it.

She glared at us for a couple of seconds, before decided that we weren't worth the trouble today. "Remember, I don't want to hear a single peep from any of you!"

"Don't worry, we'll be keeping our peeps to ourselves, Ms. Alecto." Grover reassured her.

"Speak for yourself there Grover, I still have hope a girl will one day want my peep." Travis whispered once Ms. Alecto turned her back on us.

We all snickered quietly at that. Luckily Ms. Alecto didn't hear us at that time.

"Dude, if you keep calling it 'your peep', you'll be waiting a long time for that 'one day'." I retorted quietly.

"Harsh." Travis said with a pout.

"I mean, he's not wrong." Connor agreed.

"Yeah, he does have a point." Grover admitted. "Peep just ain't a sexy word dude."

Ms. Alecto cleared her throat loudly and sent us (me) a warning glare.

Suffice to say we paid better attention to the class after that.

-Line Break-

"So what's the deal with you and Piper?" Grover asked during recess.

"Wait, you've got something going on with Piper? How is that even possible?" Katie wondered. "We've been apart for like half a day."

I sighed, really hoping they forgot. "Nothing is going between us. I just pissed her off, during gym."

Bianca furrowed her eyebrows. "How'd you manage to do that?"

"Well, I'm an idiot."

"Ah, right yeah. Sometimes I forget." She nodded her head, accepting my explanation. Rude. She didn't even have the decency to fight me on that.

"So… You're not even going to pretend to disagree with me, huh?"

"Nope, that all checks out to me." She said with a shit-eating grin. "Right guys?"

Everyone nodded their heads at that. Rude.

"No yeah, I'm with Bianca on this one." Nico commented. "You are an idiot. No offense."

I wanted to argue, but let's face it, they weren't wrong, I mean I am an idiot. I've even said it myself before.

"Right well, it's because I'm such an idiot I made Piper mad too."

"What'd you do?" Grover asked.

"It's not so much what I did but what I said." I specified.

"What'd you say this time?" Katie questioned exasperatedly.

"I uh… I may or may not have implied she was and I quote: 'a backstabbing bitch'." I confessed, rubbing the back of my neck.

"That… is a horrible thing to imply." Connor commented.

"Yeah, I can see why she'd be mad at you for that." Travis said, looking up in thought. "From my experience, girls do not like it when you imply anything about them."

"Or assume." Connor added with a shiver.

"Yes, that too! Definitely don't assume or imply anything when it comes to girls."

"No shit sherlock, I kind of already learned that already." I replied.

"So let me get this straight, instead of improving, possibly even fixing, your situation with Annabeth you've only managed to make it worse?" Bianca summarized.

I nodded my head. "Yeah, that pretty much sums it up."

"Wow." Nico exclaimed. "I mean I always thought I sucked at interacting with people, but wow. I'm impressed with your skills."

"Gee, thanks, Nico. Somehow, knowing you think that has made all of this worth it."

"I can't tell if you're being sarcastic or not." Grover admitted. Everyone else stared at him incredulously. "Right, so it was sarcasm. Got it. Let's move on."

"So… What are you going to do now?" Katie asked.

I sighed, once I tell them there was no going back. "Well… Leo had this idea."

"I'm in." Grover announced. Everyone stared at him weirdly.

I looked around, confused. "Um… by any chance did I already tell you guys about Leo's idea or…?"

"No no, this time Grover is the one being weird." Bianca reassured me.

"Thanks Bi, appreciate that reassurance."

"What? I trust Leo! He's been nothing but nice to me so far. If he has an idea, I'm in." Grover explained. "I mean, he invited us to his party and he helped me out with Juniper. Plus he's Charles Beckendorf's half-brother. 'Nough said."

"Man's got a point there." Travis admitted with a thoughtful nod. "Several points actually."

"Yeah, all right fine, we're all in too." Connor announced. "Right guys?"

"Eh, okay." Nico agreed with a shrug.

"Seriously?" Bianca asked him. "You don't even know what it is. You're like the last person to agree to something unknown."

"True, but if it'll help Percy out, then I'm in."

"Huh, when you put it like that… I'm in too!"

"Well, if everyone's doing it…" Katie muttered. "Fine, I'm in as well."

I blinked, confused at what just happened. "But… I haven't told you guys his idea yet. For all you know it doesn't even involve you guys."

"Does it?" Grover asked.

"…yes. Kind of." I admitted sheepishly. "He wants us all to hang out at his place after school."

"With his friends or..?" Travis asked.

"Yeah, with his friends."

"Dude, do you know what this means?" Travis exclaimed.

"Yeah, it means I'm either going to patch things up with Annabeth and Piper or somehow make it all a million times worse."

"No! Well… fine, yes that too. But dude! They're like, royalty or something. And we're going to hang out with them!"

"That means that basically, we're royalty too!" Connor explained with an excited grin.

I frowned. "Since when has that ever mattered to you guys?"

"Oh, I could care less about popularity." He answered. "No, what I'm interested in is not dying a virgin. And popular guys? They're less likely to die a virgin, so..."

"I… can't argue with that." I had to admit. "So, you're all in?"

"You know it!"

"Hell yeah!"

"Yeah no, we can't make it."

"Of course."

"Wouldn't miss it for the world!"

I frowned, wondering if I heard that right. "Hold up, wait a minute, did someone say they can't make it?"

"Yeah, I did." Bianca confessed. "Nico and I can't hang out after school."

"Oh no! Why not?" Katie asked.

Nico rolled his eyes. "Our dad is taking us out shopping for 'special clothes' for the dinner we're about to have with his 'special lady'. Apparently, all of my clothes are inappropriate and depressing. He's not wrong, but still... Rude."

"Yeah, and there's no way out of it. Trust me, we've tried." Bianca added.

"That's too bad!" I said. "This sucks."

"Yeah, now I'm not sure we should even go." Katie mumbled.

"You should all still go!" Bianca advised. "It sounds really fun and Percy will definitely bail if you guys don't go with him."

I opened my mouth, ready to refute her claim, but… She wasn't exactly wrong, that did sound like something I would do.

"You sure?" Grover questioned.

Nico nodded his head. "Yeah, you guys we'll be fine. Go and drag Percy to an uncomfortably awkward social situation, and fill us in on the details later."

"You know it, little dude." Connor vowed. "We'll fill you guys in on every awkward little detail."

"Yes, we'll be on Percy like flies on shit." Travis confirmed.

I grimaced, and I could see I wasn't the only one grossed out by that analogy. "Dude, what the fuck?"

Nico nodded his head. "Yeah, I'm with Percy on this. What the fuck?"

Travis just shrugged unapologetically. "I can't change the way my mind works you know. Scratch that, I won't change the way my mind works, so you can all just suck it."

Connor rolled his eyes. "The point my idiot of a brother was trying to make is, we've got your back. All of your backs. Always."

"Thanks?" Bianca said.

He winked at her. "You got it, Bi."

"So we're really doing this, huh?" I asked them, just to be sure.

"Indubitably my friend, indubitably." Travis affirmed.

"You know the word indubitably, but couldn't think of a better analogy than 'flies on shit'? Seriously?"

Travis shrugged. "What can I say? I'm like a riddle, a walking question mark with an enigma for a mind. I will not, cannot, be understood or known completely."

I pinched the bridge of my nose. "You're an idiot."

He scoffed. "Oh yeah? Well, then that makes you a pot."

I looked at him weirdly. "…what? What the hell does that mean? Is that supposed to be some kind of insult or what? And is anyone else confused, or is it just me?"

"No no, I think I speak for all of us when I say: huh?" Katie said.

Travis gestured between him and me while he spoke. "You know the expression? He's like the pot and I'm the kettle that he called black, except in this case instead of black it's idiot. And also he's not actually a pot and I'm not a kettle. Do you guys get it? No one? Really? Ugh, never mind, nobody gets me. Not even my own brother."

Connor shrugged. "Sorry dude, I guess I'm just not smart enough to get it."

"Travis, your mind truly is an enigma." Katie conceded.

"And your body is kind of question mark shaped." Grover observed. "Huh, I never noticed before."

"Forget it! Let's just go to class or whatever, recess is about to end anyway."

"Oh! That I did understand!" Connor exclaimed happily.

Travis just facepalmed in response to that.

-Line Break-

"We shouldn't go in." I told them. We were currently in front of Leo's house when I had this epiphany. "I mean it wouldn't be right without Bianca and Nico."

"Dude, we're in front of Leo's house. We didn't come all this way just to bail. There's literally no going back." Travis argued. "Besides, they already gave us their blessing to go. We're good."

"That's not true. None of the people inside know that we're here, so you know there's some going back."

Katie rang the doorbell. "Aaaand now they know we're here so… we're back to no going back, literally this time."

Travis stared at her in amazement. "You blow me away."

Katie smiled, pink dusting her cheeks. "Um, thanks."

Travis also started blushing. I don't think he meant to say that out loud if his reaction had anything to do with it. He cleared his throat and looked at the ground. "Yeah, well you know… You're welcome or whatever. I don't really care so, yeah. It's like… Whatever. You know what I mean?"

She grinned. "Yeah, I know what you mean."

"Man you guys suuuck at flirting." Connor said, making both Katie and Travis blush even harder.

"We do not!" They yelled at the same time.

"Huh, you guys didn't deny the flirting part." Connor observed with a sly smile.

"We were getting to that, like right now." Travis explained quickly.

"Yeah and here it is: we weren't flirting." Katie insisted.

"Interesting to see how in sync you guys seem to be." Grover noted with a smirk.

"Guys!" Travis exclaimed. "No, just no."

"Yeah, Travis is like the last guy I'd go out with." Katie confirmed.

Travis frowned at her. "The last guy? Really?"

Katie opened her mouth and closed it a couple of times before actually speaking. "Who's side are you on?"

"Well, yours obviously. But you don't have to be mean about it."

"I wasn't being mean! I was just—"

Luckily for them, Leo opened the door ending their misery. For now. However, while their misery just ended, mine has only begun. Wow, that sounded more ominous than it actually is. Just to clarify, I'm not about to go on some epic life or death mission for the fate of the universe right now, although that would've been awesome.

Leo greeted us with his trademark grin and opened his door wider. "Hey guys, sorry I took so long! Always a pleasure to see you all. Come in, come in, don't be a stranger. We're all chilling by the pool, that's why it took me so long to get the door. Although Hazel couldn't make it. She had this family thing she couldn't get out off."

"I didn't know we had to bring a change of clothes." Grover told him.

"Yeah, I didn't bring any either." I said, everyone else nodding in agreement.

Leo waved away our concerns. "Ain't no thing but a chicken wing guys. You don't have to swim if you don't want to. But if you do, I've got extra swimming trunks lying around."

"Um… Yeah, I can't wear those." Katie claimed.

Leo grinned. "Wouldn't mind it one bit if you did mamacita."

I saw Travis narrow his eyes at that.

"But, you've got a point there. That wouldn't be very appropriate." Leo conceded. "Hmm… Well, I know Piper has some of her clothes here, maybe she's got an extra pair of um, well… whatever the female equivalent of a swimming trunk is."

"No, that's okay. I mean, I appreciate it, but I'm not really up for swimming so…"

"All right then. Let me know if you change your mind, and we'll find you a change of dress." Leo said with a wink.

Katie looked away, but I could've sworn she was blushing. Say what you will about Leo, but the man's got hella moves.

"Hey guys, check out what I brought." Leo announced to his friends. "A couple of snacks, straight from the oven."

There were currently four other people in the garden besides us; Leo, Jason, Piper and this jacked Asian dude who I'm going to assume is Frank.

"You're so weird sometimes." Piper told him. Oh gods. Why'd she have to wear a bikini? That isn't going to do me any favors when I apologize to her.

"Shut up, you know you love it." Leo retorted with a wink.

Piper shrugged, "Eh, I could do without it."

"Oh Jesus, here we go again." Jason muttered with an eyeroll.

"At least they haven't brought up religion this time." Frank commented.

"Blasphemy!" Leo declared.

"And I spoke too soon." Frank admitted.

"How the hell is that blasphemy? Please, walk me through the thought process. I would love to find out." Piper begged him sarcastically.

They started bickering, and I remembered Piper was still mad at me. Better steer clear from the garden for now.

"Hey guys, um so I'm gonna get a snack." I whispered to my friends.

"You're not planning on leaving, are you?" Grover asked me, eyes narrowed I suspicion.

I rolled my eyes in return. "No, I'm not planning on leaving you guys. I just… I'm nervous. I promise, one way or another I'll make up with Annabeth and Piper today. But… I'm not ready yet. In fact, I kind of feel like I might faint if I talk to either one of them right now."

"Oh shit, yeah no yeah, go get that snack dude. Try and make it a healthy one while you're at it." Travis advised.

"Yeah, and maybe drink some water while you're there. It's important to stay hydrated." Katie added.

I grinned, catching Grover and Connor's eyes, sensing an opportunity here. "Thanks mom and dad. I appreciate you guys taking care of me!"

I left before I could hear their protests, hoping Connor and Grover would take on the mantle of teasing them relentlessly in my absence.

-Line Break-

I decided to take Travis and Katie's advice and had myself a healthy snack and some water at the counter. What on earth was I thinking, coming here without a speech prepared? And how on earth did I not make the connection between pools bathing suits?!

I groaned and banged my head against the counter. I'm such an idiot. I didn't even know how I would handle this. I mean, do I apologize to Annabeth first? Or would it be easier to start with Piper? You know what, I am not going down that rabbit hole again. I should just wing it. I'm pretty good at improvising. Hopefully. Probably?

"You of all people definitely shouldn't be damaging your head. Well, any more than you already have."

I stilled. Oh, gods. Someone was missing in the garden, wasn't there?

It was her.

Annabeth fucking Chase, in a _bikini_ no less.

May the gods help me.

I cleared my throat. "Me of all people?"

She bit her lip, breaking rule number two, but I didn't mind it so much. "You know, on account of you being a Seaweed Brain."

I was confused. Why was she being so… so casual, so normal? In fact, I think she was trying to lighten up the mood.

"Oh right, yeah." Gods this was awkward. Say something. Anything! "I uh… I figured it'd be okay if **I** did it, _because_ of my Seaweed Brain."

What the fuck was I saying right now?! I wanted to die, right then and there.

Luckily, she just grinned in return, and whatever anyone says I did **not** feel any butterflies. Shut up.

"Typical Seaweed Brain logic right there. "

I narrowed my eyes. "You'd know all about logic, huh?"

She took the seat beside me, making me hyper-aware of how close she was. Dear gods, there was so much exposed _skin_. Rule number four: no exposed skin. Ever.

"Well, not to brag but I **do**have to highest GPA in our grade, so… Yeah, I think I would know all about logic."

I rolled my eyes, but couldn't suppress a grin. Why was her arrogance so _hot_? "That totally sounded like a brag, just so you know."

"Yeah I know, that's kind of why I added the 'not to brag' part."

"Oh, my gods. You are such a… a… uh…"

"A what?" She asked with that infuriating smirk of hers.

"A Wise Girl. You are such a Wise Girl." I answered with a smirk of my own.

She blinked, probably blown away by my degrading nickname for her. "Is that supposed to be a compliment?"

I spluttered. "What? No! It's… It's… It's a degrading nickname! It's like wise-ass, but you know… More personal. It's an insult! You should be devastated right now."

She smiled at me sympathetically. "I'm not devastated… To be honest, I don't think you're very good at this. I actually think you're the one who's devastated."

I scoffed. "What?! I'm not! And I don't care. It's whatever whatevs."

It was right then and there that I realized, we never made up. And yet somehow we were talking to each other like normal. Should I just… Launch into my apology now? Or, is she just planning on ignoring what happened? What do I do?!

Fuck it, I'll just go out and say it, see how that goes.

"So.." I started, ready to blurt out my apology when…

"I'm sorry."

She blurted it out before I could.

I blinked. "What?"

She bit her lip, _again_, "I'm sorry, you know for how I acted at the party."

"_You're _sorry?"

She nodded, avoiding my incredulous gaze. "Yeah, I shouldn't have flipped out on you like that. I just…"

"You just what?" I asked, giving her my undivided attention. It was rare for Annabeth to stumble over her words, once in a blue moon rare. In fact, I don't think she's ever done that. Not around me at least.

She sighed. "It's just… All guys like Piper. And I mean, I can see _why_. She's amazing! And funny, and _obviously_ attractive, so I just… I… felt a little insecure when I thought you might… You know… But it's okay if you are! Totally okay, you have a right to feel like that... about her… It's none of my business whatsoever because we're just friends, and I know that but… I can't help but… Feel this way, you know?"

She buried her head in between her hands before I could try and answer what I think was a question. "And now I realize I'm rambling. Way to go Annabeth, that's definitely how you apologize to someone."

I grinned, I couldn't help it. She was just so… **cute** when she rambled. I kind of wanted to hear her ramble more often.

Wait. What am I thinking? No. No, I don't. It's whatever whatevs to me. Her rambling does not affect me. Not one bit.

It was silent for a couple of seconds, which was when I realized I should probably say something right about now. What should I say though? Fuck it, I guess I'll just wing it.

"Annabeth," I started, hoping she'd look at me (she didn't), "I'm not great at this _especially _with you, but I'm willing to try. I don't know what you're thinking, probably because I'm just a Seaweed Brain and you're, well, a Wise Girl but… I don't like Piper. Like that. I mean, she seems great and all, but that's it you know. I barely know her. So, if you feel shitty, or whatever, because of that well… Don't. I guess."

She let out a snort, head still in between her hands. "You're right, you're not great at this."

Geez, way to put me down. Here I am clumsily pouring my heart out and that's what I get for it? I mean, ouch.

She looked up, still not at me though. "But… I kind of like that about you. I think it's cute. I actually think you're… Never mind."

It was hard to tell because she was avoiding my gaze, but if I'm not mistaken I could detect a hint of pink on her cheeks. I could feel a smile tug at my lips. Or maybe it was a smirk. "You think I'm what?"

"I said never mind, Seaweed Brain."

"No, no, now you've made me curious, Wise Girl. What were you going to say?"

"Nope. Not happening."

"Come on!"

"No!"

"Please?"

"Still no."

"I'll be your best friend." I suggested playfully.

Shit.

I saw her smirk.

That piqued her interest.

"Promise?"

Shit, shit, shit. What do I do? I've backed myself into a corner now. See, this is exactly why I should never just wing it.

"Um… Yes?"

I could see the gears turn in her head before she came to her decision.

"All right fine. I was going to say that I thought _you _were… cute. There, I said it. You happy now?"

Oh fuck. What have I done?!

Why'd she have to go and say _that_?!

I gulped, cursing myself for teasing her. What did I think she was going to say?

"Oh."

"Oh gods." She buried her head in her hands again. "I shouldn't have said anything. Now I've gone and made it weird, haven't I?"

I panicked. "What? No! No, no, no, no, no, it's not weird. It's not weird at all!"

She scoffed. "Right, because you always speak in that high-pitched voice."

Oh shit, I didn't even realize my voice was higher than normal. What was my normal pitch? I cleared my throat and started speaking in a lower pitch, hoping to compensate for earlier.

"What are you talking about? My voice is always like this."

"And now you sound like Darth Vader."

How did I normally sound?

"How about now? We good?" I tried slowly, hoping I got my pitch right.

She snorted. "Yeah, you're good."

I ran my hand through my hair, hoping I'd somehow find the right words there. No such luck. Damn, it looks like I'm stuck winging it.

"Hey Annabeth, look at me."

She wouldn't budge.

"Please? Do it for your best friend?"

She sighed and looked up. Not at me, but still, this was an improvement.

"Listen, I'm happy you think I'm cute. It's um, it's flattering. Yeah, I'm flattered! It's not often girls call me cute. Especially girls like you."

"Girls like me?"

"You know…"

I could see a smile tug at her lips.

"No, I don't think I do. Care to elaborate?"

I sighed, and looked up at the ceiling. "Come on Wise Girl, don't make me say it."

"You come on! I already confessed something embarrassing, now it's your turn."

"Well, that's different."

"How is that different?"

"Because…!"

"Because what Percy?"

I sighed, if I'm going to say it, I'm going to say it right.

I grabbed her chin, the same way she grabbed mine the last time we were in this house. My gods this might've been a mistake, her eyes made this so much harder. "Because I think you're beautiful."

Her eyes widened. "You… You think I'm beautiful?"

"Jesus Christ Annabeth, of course, I do! I always have."

Oh.

Oh, dear. I should not have said that last part.

I saw her mouth open, ready to say something, but we got interrupted.

"Oh, my gods, I'm so sorry!" Someone squeaked. It was Frank. He was redder than a tomato, and currently covering his eyes with his hands. "I wasn't… I didn't… I'm sorry! I was just thirsty, and I… You know what? I can just drink some pool water or something. Sorry for interrupting."

I let go of Annabeth's chin as if it burned me. "I wasn't… We weren't…" I spluttered, hopelessly trying to explain what we were doing. "You didn't interrupt anything!"

Frank just shook his head and all but ran out of the kitchen.

I banged my head against the counter. Way to go Percy. That's how you make a good first impression.

I felt Annabeth rub my back soothingly. "Hey, it's okay Percy. We'll just explain it to Frank later. We weren't doing anything."

I sighed. "I know that, and you know that, but he _doesn't._ I just… I think I need a cigarette right about now. If you don't mind." And also, to get away from her as fast and far as possible before she started asking questions I didn't want to answer.

"Oh. Yeah, no okay. Sure. I understand." I could see her disapproving frown. Perfect. She definitely wouldn't want to talk to me while I'm smoking.

I stood up. "Awesome possum."

I pinched the bridge of my nose. What a wonderful time to say _that_ for the first time ever.

She grinned.

"Shut up." I said, before she could say anything.

She just held up her hands. "I was just going to say… See you in a while, crocodile."

I just groaned while I walked away from her.

"Aren't you going to say see you later, alligator?" She yelled at me.

I just flipped her off in return.

At least I cleared things up with Annabeth. For now.

One down, another one to go.

* * *

**Well, I think you can all guess what I've been doing the past few days. (Procrastinating the hell out of studying, in case you didn't want to guess.) Will I regret it later? Indubitably. Do I regret it now? I mean, this is the longest chapter I've ever written so... Yeah, maybe a little XD. Either way, I hope you're all taking care and being safe out there! I also hope you enjoyed reading this chapter, if you did let me know! If you didn't... Still let me know! I'm all about self-improvement! (With my writing I mean. Everything else is... a work in progress.) As for the next chapter, it's still anyone's guess, I'm afraid.**

* * *

**RandomFanAuthor: Thank you so much dude! I really appreciate it. Keeps me motivated to write, you know?**

**MapleRose150: Haha, wow thanks! I think about you guys (my readers) and it just motivates me to make the chapters as awesome as I can. Here's a blue cookie, because I LOVE that play on word. Amazhang indeed! XD**

**Izzie0929: 3 Right back at ya :D**


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson or the characters, Rick Riordan does.**

_Annabeth_ likes me.

I can't keep denying it anymore. The looks, the jealousy, the smiles… It was so obvious, to everyone but me. Or maybe I just didn't want to believe it. I mean, gods we almost kissed. It was so fucking obvious.

Annabeth Chase _likes_ me, Perseus screwed up Jackson.

How the hell did I get here?

And why now? Why couldn't she have liked me before? Or you know, after? Like in college or something?

What do I do? What do I do?!

I couldn't sit on the steps in front of Leo's house forever. Sooner or later they're going to expect me back inside. A man can only smoke for so long before it becomes suspicious. But gods, I really wanted to run away right now.

**Annabeth** likes _me_. I still couldn't quite believe it. She likes me.

I closed my eyes and tried to imagine what it would be like to date her.

I couldn't.

This was never supposed to happen. This shouldn't have even been a possibility. I rubbed my eyes with my free hand, hoping to wipe away the realization that Annabeth **likes** me.

I couldn't.

It's seared into my mind. It's all I could think about. Once you know a thing you can't ever unknow it.

Shelikes **me**.

Fuck.

Fuck fuck fuck.

I heard the front door open. I stilled. Oh gods. Not yet. Please be anyone but Annabeth. _Please_. I wasn't ready.

I turned around slowly, and came face to face with…

"Piper." I exclaimed in surprise. Well, I did not expect that.

She took a seat beside me and avoided my gaze. "Just so you know, it's not like I **want **to be here right now."

I blinked. "Um, okay? May I ask why you're here then?"

She sighed and looked at me, a glare present on her face. "Leo made me. Said I had to grow up or whatever."

"Leo said that?" I asked in disbelief. "_Leo Valdez_?"

"Yeah, I know!" She said with a grin. "Can you believe it?"

I shook my head, still in a state of disbelief. "I really really can't. He's like the last person I would've expected."

"Right?!" She was still grinning but then she shook her head and looked away. "Wait, I'm still mad at you!"

You know what? After realizing Annabeth's feelings for me, apologizing to Piper seemed like a piece of cake. Oh gods, she likes me. I really have to stop thinking about that.

I put out my cigarette and looked down at my shoes. "Yeah I know, and you should be. I was being a dick, and I'm sorry. I shouldn't have implied that you were a backstabbing bitch when all you wanted to do was help me. That was so uncool of me. I'm sorry, and I swear on the river Styx I'll never do it again." Thunder echoed in my mind.

"Why did you do that?" She asked, turning around to face me. She wasn't glaring, but she didn't exactly look happy. Which is a shame really, because Piper was absolutely radiant when she's happy.

I sighed and looked up at the sky, trying to avoid her mesmerizing eyes (in case she tried to hypnotize me or something). You know what? Now that I was on the other side of a why-question I could see why people had difficulties answering them. They sucked.

"I don't know… I guess… I guess I have a hard time believing people actually have my back." I confessed.

I saw her frown from the corner of my eyes. "Why?"

Man, karma truly is a bitch. I regret asking _why_ so often with the way they were biting me in the ass.

I ran my hand through my hair and looked down at the steps, still avoiding her gaze. "You don't want to know about that. No one does. It's boring, stupid, and lame."

She put her hand on my shoulder in a comforting gesture. "Not to me it isn't, I want to know. I care about you Percy."

I looked up and met her gaze. I felt my heart clench. She really meant that, didn't she? I saw nothing but honest to gods curiosity and worry in her eyes.

I took a deep breath, I can't believe I was doing this. "I… didn't have the best childhood. I mean, my mom did her best, and I will always love her for it but… After my dad left, it was never the same. _She_ was never the same, no matter how hard she tried to hide it. He **hurt** _her_. And I guess I figured… If I can't rely on my _dad_, a guy who's **supposed to** love me unconditionally, how the hell am I supposed to rely on anyone else? Gods, you see? It's so stupid." I buried my face in my hand, embarrassed beyond belief. Gods, I've never talked to anyone about my childhood, because it's such a bummer of a subject.

She shook her head and hugged me tightly, burying her face in my chest. I blinked. Well… This I did not expect either. Should I… Should I hug her back? Is that allowed? Would she kill me if I did? Or would she kill me if I didn't? What is the proper protocol here?

"It's not stupid Percy. Gods, he sucks okay? He definitely missed out, because you rock. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise, ever."

Fuck it, I hugged her back, a smile tugging at my lips at her determined tone and her compliment. This was nice. It felt kind of… right. I should hug people more often. "You know what? You're right, he _does _suck, doesn't he?"

I could feel the laugh she let out reverberate through my chest. She has a nice laugh. I never really noticed before. "Yeah, he does. Because he walked out on **you**, which was like dumbest move ever. Like I said, you rock."

I was definitely smiling now. "Thanks Piper, so do you by the way. You rock too, in fact, you hurricane rock. And… I'm glad we're friends again."

She gasped, pulling away from me with an excited grin. "You said it! You actually said it!"

I grinned, I couldn't help it. She looked so happy, her whole face lit up and her smile was infectious. She was, well… for lack of a better word: beautiful. "I did. I can't deny it anymore, we're friends."

"Hell yeah we are! No backsies!"

"Wouldn't dream of it."

It was quiet for a second, which is when I realized my arms were still on her waist. I felt myself blush, and let go of her.

"Sorry." I muttered, rubbing the back of my neck sheepishly.

She blinked, I guess she didn't realize either. "Oh, that's okay, I… didn't really mind. It was… nice. You're a pretty good hugger."

I cleared my throat and smirked. "Why thank you, I have hugged a person before so…"

"Let me guess… Your mom?"

"… shut up."

"So that's a yes then?"

"No, that's a **shut up**."

"So… Yes?"

I sighed. "Fine, yes. I was talking about my mom. Happy?"

"Very." She said with a triumphant smirk.

I rolled my eyes. "So I love my mom. Is that such a crime?"

"No! In fact, it's kind of sweet. Girls like that in a guy." She admitted. Huh, I wonder if Annabeth liked that about me.

I blinked. I did not just think that. Nope. I shouldn't think about her. Liking me. Nope. Forget it.

"Right, well… I'm not really trying to get any girls to like me at the moment." I confessed, thinking about Annabeth _again_. Fuck.

She arched one of her perfectly shaped eyebrows. "Really?"

"Really really."

"What about Annabeth?" She asked, wriggling her eyebrows suggestively.

Fuck.

Now I was thinking about Annabeth _again_. It always leads back to her somehow. I'm always led back to her.

"Well… That's… Different." I stammered out, flustered.

"Why?"

"Because…" I didn't know how to finish the sentence. I mean, I wasn't _trying _to get Annabeth to like me. But I'm not gonna lie, I was kind of happy knowing she liked me. Scared out of my mind sure, but also happy.

I couldn't help it. As much as I hate to admit it, I've always carried a torch for her ever since I learned what a crush was. I could deny it all I want, but I fear a part of me might still like her, will **always **like her. And when I say her, I don't mean some idealized version of her or anything, I'm plenty aware of her flaws.

Although… It has been a while since we were actually friends. And she doesn't even remember me… Was I completely off base here? Maybe she didn't actually like**me**. Maybe she was just grateful that I rescued her. Oh gods. What if that's it? And what if I did like some idealized version of her? Like I said, it has been a while since we were actually friends. She could be completely different from what I remembered. This really is complicated, isn't it?

"Because…?" She repeated.

I looked at my watch. "We should really head inside, everyone's probably wondering why it's taking us so long."

I saw her eyes narrow. "They can wait a bit longer."

I shook my head. "I don't think so. We've been out here for quite a while, it's kind of sus."

"Fine, this isn't over though. I will get an answer sooner or later!" She vowed.

Great. That's just… Great.

-Line Break-

Leo grinned when he saw both of us enter the garden. "There they are! My babies! Everything good between you guys now?"

Piper rolled her eyes, but couldn't suppress a grin. "Yes yes, we made up and hugged it out. Happy?"

"_Very._"

"Wait, you guys hugged?" Annabeth asked in surprise, looking at me for the answer.

I felt myself sweat. "Uh… Kind of?"

Piper looked at me weirdly.

"How do you _kind of_ hug someone?" Connor wondered.

"Yeah Percy, how do you kind of hug someone?" Annabeth repeated, her eyes narrowed. Jesus, something about her tone made the hair in the back of my neck stand up.

Oh man, the sweating was definitely getting worse. It was soaking my shirt. "Um… Well… You see…" I really hope my voice wasn't shaking as much as I think it was.

"Guys, that's not important right now." Piper told them with an eye-roll.

I could see the Stoll twins mouth something to me, next to Frank. I squinted and if I'm not mistaken I think they were mouthing, 'Tell us later'.

I pinched the bridge of my nose because knowing them they probably meant it.

"What is important right now, is the fact that Percy hasn't met Frank yet, has he?" Piper continued. "Percy, meet Frank the amazhang. I'm just kidding, his last name is actually Zhang. Frank Zhang."

Leo nodded. "It's a good name. A strong name, for a strong guy."

Both Frank and my eyes widened.

"Um… Right. Yeah. Hi." Frank said, a blush starting to form.

"Sup?" I said in return, my own blush forming.

Everyone looked at the both of us weirdly, well except for Annabeth. She was also sporting a blush. All three of us…. Blushing. That wasn't suspicious at all.

"What's going on?" Grover asked us, eyes narrowed.

Frank shook his head quickly. "Nothing."

"Yeah dawg, it's all good in the… hood. What? It be like that sometimes. Everything is totally normal, hunky-dory." I answered. I saw Annabeth facepalm at that. Yeah, that was fair. Man, I'm using all kinds of new expressions today for the first time ever.

"I think what Percy is trying to say," Annabeth started, sending me a warning glance to stop talking, "is that it's normal for them to feel awkward right now. I mean, they are put on the spot, so… Yeah. That makes sense."

Katie shook her head. "No, this is a different kind of awkward for Percy. A whole new level in fact."

"Yeah, and I've only ever seen Frank act like that once." Leo added.

"Oh yeah! Yeah, when he accidentally walked in on Jason and a girl." Piper recalled.

Aaand cue all three of our eyes widening again (you know, Frank, Annabeth, and me).

"Have you guys met before or something?" Jason wondered.

"Um… or something." Frank chose, eyes alternating between Annabeth and myself.

Piper noticed. Piper definitely noticed, I saw her eyes widen when she reached that lightbulb moment.

"Oh, my gods… Frank! You saw something, didn't you!" Piper exclaimed. "And based on your reactions… It involves Percy and Annabeth."

Fuck.

Shit fuck damn.

How?!

"Whaaat? That's… Ridiculous. I didn't… When would I… Whaaat?" Frank stammered out, his face becoming redder by the word.

"Yeah, I'm with Frank. That's ridiculous." Annabeth said confidently.

Leo shook his head, face grinning. "Frank's voice just got higher at the end. That means he's hiding something. _And _he never brought me the snacks I asked for when he went to the kitchen."

Frank scoffed. "Pish-posh. I don't do that when I'm hiding something, because I'm not. What would I be hiding? Nothing, that's what. Except for the fact that I forgot about your snacks. You know what? I'm thirsty again, so how about I go fetch you your snacks, while I hydrate myself?"

I stood up quickly. "Me too actually. How about we both go to the kitchen, like… Right fucking now?"

Frank nodded his head. "Yeah, that sounds absolutely perfect."

"Ooh, that sounds refreshing. Let me join you guys." Annabeth proposed.

I looked at her weirdly. Did she not know how suspicious that would look?

"You guys do realize that that's hella sus, right?" Piper commented with a smirk that said it all. She knew. She definitely knew. Damn her and her mindreading powers.

"Shut up." I retorted.

-Line Break-

"Nothing is going on between us." Annabeth told Frank the moment we entered the kitchen.

I nodded my head quickly. "Yeah, we're just… friends."

Frank was avoiding our gazes, looking everywhere but at us. "Okay."

"I mean it." Annabeth insisted.

Frank nodded his head. "Okay!"

"Yeah, what you saw before… That wasn't a kiss or anything." I clarified. "It was just… A platonic gesture shared between friends."

"Totally platonic." Annabeth agreed confidently. Oh gods, maybe I was wrong about her feelings?

"Sure, okay." Frank said although he didn't sound like he believed us at all. "Look, it's none of my business whatsoever. I swear on the river Styx, I won't tell anyone."

"There's nothing to tell." Annabeth said in a threatening tone, cornering him, practically daring him to disagree. Something is definitely wrong with me, because she looked, well… Hot when she was threatening someone.

"**Okay**." Frank repeated, sounding unconvinced.

I saw her eyes narrow. I guess she heard it too.

Frank gulped. "Look, I'm sorry if I sound unconvinced, all right? It's just… You guys looked really… Cozy together. And well, you have been acting weird lately Annabeth."

Annabeth blushed at that, sending me a furtive glance, before focusing on Frank again. "No, I haven't!"

I did my best to act like I didn't know anything, like the fact that she might possibly like**me**. Although with every passing moment, I'm really starting to doubt that.

"No, it's a good thing!" Frank reassured her. Her eyes narrowed.

I cleared my throat. "Um… Do you guys want me to leave or…?"

"Yes, maybe that's for the best." Annabeth answered, her glare promising Frank a world of pain.

"No, stay!" Frank pleaded at the same time. "Don't leave me alone with… her."

Annabeth scoffed. "I wasn't going to hurt you... much."

Now, I didn't know Frank that well (or… at all really), but that didn't mean I wanted him to get hurt. I wasn't a monster.

I stood in between the both of them and grabbed Annabeth's shoulders. Man, her skin was soft. Wait, focus Percy, **focus**.

"Hey Frank, wanna give us a minute?" I asked, half-hoping he'd say yes, half-dreading it as well.

He nodded his head quickly. "Yeah, let me just get this bottle of water right here, and this bag of Doritos for Leo. All right, got it. Good luck dude, and thanks!"

"You okay?" I asked her once Frank left.

She sighed, and enveloped me in a hug, burying her face in my chest the way she used to when we were kids. I blinked, surprised by the hug that felt achingly familiar and yet excitingly foreign at the same time. It was like coming home and going on an adventure at the same time. A total contradiction that somehow made more sense than anything else.

I hugged her back, and in that moment the world felt right. All other thoughts just flew away. No doubts, no worries, just us. Seaweed Brain and Wise Girl. Gods, I could get used to this. I could get used to her.

Oh.

Oh, shit.

No. No no.

This can't be happening again. Not now. _Especially _after the realization that she didn't actually like **me**. She just liked her savior, who happens to be… me. Oh wow, that was a depressing thought, not gonna lie.

Why?

Why why why?

Why do I like her again?

Did I ever really stop?

"He's right." She mumbled suddenly, head above my heart. "I have been acting weird lately."

I bit my lip, wondering for the millionth time today what I was supposed to say. Just once, I wished I knew the right words. I fuck up everything, but oh gods… How desperately I begged myself not to fuck this up right now.

"I just… I've never felt this way before." She admitted. Oh gods. Was she…? Was she going to confess the way she felt about me right now?! Oh gods, oh gods, oh gods… I needed air. How do I know if she really likes me for me? You can't tell a girl how she feels. But… You can't just outright question it either when she confesses, right?

"Oh come on, that can't be true. I'm nothing special." I tried.

She shook her head. "You are. I don't know… I just… I feel so comfortable around you, I can't explain it. It's like I've known you forever."

Well, maybe not forever…

"You actually do feel really familiar. _This_ feels familiar somehow." She muttered.

I gulped, my heart beating a mile a minute, becoming increasingly uncomfortable with the situation. She could probably hear it. Great. And now I couldn't get any air in my lungs. Everything in my body was screaming at me to get out of there, before it was too late.

What if she starts asking real concrete questions?

What if the answers make her sad?

Worse, what if they made her mad?!

I let go of her, even though I _really_ didn't want to.

"We should probably join the others." I replied, avoiding her eyes.

"Oh… Yeah… okay." She mumbled, obviously disappointed.

"I mean, they're gonna be even more suspicious now." I explained.

"Uh-huh. Sure."

She walked past me, into the garden.

I leaned against the wall, slid down to the floor and buried my head in between my hands. I did my best to hold in my tears. Remembering someone who doesn't remember you is a whole new level of sadness I never knew existed. If the other person doesn't remember any of the memories you do, then do they even matter? What's the point of holding on to them if the other person doesn't even remember? They might as well have never happened then.

-Line Break-

TIME SKIP: TUESDAY

So.

I might still have a thing for Annabeth. Or I might still have a thing for the Annabeth I used to know. But if that's the case, then I don't actually like _her_ per se.

And she might have a thing for me, sure. Or she might have a thing for her rescuer, who happens to be me. But if that is the case, then that means she doesn't actually like _me_.

That's pretty much all I've been thinking about all day yesterday. Well, not all day, just the rest of the time I spent at Leo's. After the kitchen hug, nothing really noteworthy happened. I mean, I did get to know everyone better which was nice. Although Annabeth… I don't think she's mad at me, but… She's definitely not happy with me. It's like, she would observe me intently, but when I tried to talk to her, she'd be kind of standoffish? I don't know, it's complicated. Which, I suppose is the norm for us.

Maybe I should talk to someone about all of this, get an outside perspective. I'm too close, which means I might be missing important details. But who could help me?

Or maybe it wasn't even worth it anymore. I mean, we might not actually like each other. Should I just cut my losses, and try to move on instead?

I buried my head in my hands. I was currently the only person in the classroom right now. I arrived extra early, because… Because I wanted the day to start earlier. I wanted to see her as fast as possible. I always want her around. Isn't that something worth holding on to?

I don't know, I don't know anymore.

I need help. But who?

I wish the universe would send me a sign or something.

"Woah, you're here early."

My head shot up.

It was Piper.

Huh, not exactly my first choice, but who am I to doubt the universe? But… how do I… How do I even start?

"Yeah well, what can I say? I'm such a big science nerd, I didn't want to miss a single second of it."

"You do know first period starts in," Piper checked her watch, "half an hour, right?"

"Why yes, I too own a watch believe it or not." I showed her my watch.

She rolled her eyes. "All right smartass, I'm just not used to seeing you here this early."

"Yeah, I got some stuff on my mind. Wait, why are _you_ this early?"

She shrugged after sitting down beside me. "I'm always this early."

"Why?"

She shrugged again and looked out of the window. "There's nothing for me at home, so…"

I frowned and sat up straighter. "Piper, is everything okay?"

She shook her head and grinned. "Yeah, don't worry about it Percy. It's stupid."

I rolled my eyes. "Dude, you do know who you're talking to right? I practically invented the 'it's stupid' deflection. Come on, I thought we were friends?"

She bit her lip. "Fine. But only because you were honest with me, and I appreciate that. You better not tell anyone else."

I grabbed her hand and squeezed. "I swear it on the river Styx." Tingles shot through my hand.

"You know how your dad sucks?"

I nodded. "Yeah?"

"Well, mine isn't any better. I mean, okay, he didn't leave me or my family. But, he might as well have. I just… he's never around. Never. And yeah it's great that he works so hard to provide but… Gods, I just miss him you know? There isn't enough money in the world to get rid of that lonely feeling I get at my place." She admitted.

I frowned. "What about your mom?"

She sighed. "Ugh, that's… She's a whole other issue. She and my dad split up a couple of years ago, and it was not… amicably to say the least. They keep playing these shitty childish games, and I end up feeling like another pawn caught in the middle of it all."

I squeezed her hand again. "I'm… That sucks."

She let out a humorless chuckle. "Yeah… It does. Thanks for not apologizing by the way. I hate it when people do that, it's one of the many reasons I don't like to talk about it."

"Yeah, I get it. It kind of feels impersonal when they do. For what it's worth though, I _am _sorry you have to go through that."

She cracked a small smile. "I actually believe you."

"Look, there are probably better options, and I **suck** at this but… If you ever need to talk, I'm here for you."

Her smile became wider at that. "Thanks. And… you're not as bad as you think you are, you know, at this."

I grinned. "I am improving. I kind of have to, with you guys as my friends."

"Shut up, you know you love us."

"Ehh."

"How dare you!"

"I'm kidding. You guys are great. "

She bumped my shoulder with hers. "Hey, what about you? You said you had some stuff on your mind?"

I blinked. Huh. For a second there I completely forgot about my own worries. This must be what they call friendship.

"Oh, that. Well… It's kind of a long story."

"Oooh, my favorite kind of story."

"Really?"

"I mean, yeah! Usually when people say 'It's a long story', that also means it's a juicy story."

I'm not gonna lie, I can't argue with that kind of logic.

Oh my gods. Maybe this wasn't such a great idea after all. I'd have to tell her about the fight, my past, my feelings, _everything_. I'd have to tell her everything. What do I even know about this girl?!

Although… She did open up about herself. And she was friends with Annabeth.

Fuck.

She was friends with Annabeth.

I can't talk to her about this. What was I thinking?!

"So?" She asked when I didn't say anything.

"Um… Right. In this case, it really is a long story, and frankly, we don't have the time." I pointed out.

She looked at her watch. "Oh come on, you're telling me it'll take more than 15 minutes?"

"Probably not? But people are going to start coming any minute, and it's kind of…"

"Secret?"

"Sort of?"

"Fine, just… At least tell me what it's about?"

I bit my lip. I had to be careful, once I said it, I could never unsay it… But, I wanted to talk about it. I needed to talk about it. And Piper had my back. At least I think so?

Fuck it.

My gut told me this was the right thing.

"I'll tell you."

Piper opened her mouth, but I held up a hand to show her I wasn't done yet.

"But! Not here."

She frowned. "What? Where then? And what about class?"

I stood up and held out my hands. "How do you feel about skipping first period and heights?"

Her eyes widened. "Are you suggesting what I think you're suggesting?"

"Um… maybe?"

She thought about it for a second, before grabbing my hand. "Fuck it, lead the way."

* * *

**Hey hey, what's good? Shit's about to go _down _in Percy's life. I mean, that was the vibe I was going for. But hey, let me know what you thought about this chapter. It motivates me to write more. And, let's be honest, it also gives me an excuse to procrastinate, not that I needed any more lol. As for when the next chapter will be posted... No idea, sorry. I seem to be on a roll though, so who knows... Maybe it'll be done within the week? Definitely before July, but I guess that's still kind of vague... Sorry that I can't be more precise :/ **

* * *

**MapleRoswe150: Aw, you're too sweet! I just try to make it as entertaining as I possibly can! I'm so so happy you like it! And no worries, you earned that cookie ;) **

**RandomFanAuthor: Lol yeah, I loved how it was Frank who found Annabeth and Percy in the stables in the Mark of Athena. I had to. It had to be Frank. And it had to be awkward XD.**

**It really is a big word. And so random.**

**Unknown Outlaw: Aw, thanks dude, I will! I'm so glad you're enjoying it :D**

**Piper Mclean 250: Thank you, I'm glad you like it :) And yeah, I hope to make as many as I need to until the end.**

**Diamond: ...oh. Oh, dear. If you didn't like the last cliffhanger... I uh, I got same bad news for you. Oh, you already read the chapter? Damn. My bad :/ On a lighter note, glad you like the story so far :D Hopefully the next chapter will make up for the cliffhanger of this one. (Um, no promises though.)**


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson or the characters, Rick Riordan does.**

"So, wait, hold up. Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait just a minute here... You and Annabeth already _know _each other?!"

I nodded my head for the fifth time. We were currently on the roof of the school, sitting side by side near the edge. "Yup."

"But she doesn't remember you and you don't know why?"

"_**Yes.**_ Come on Piper, we've already gone over this _**five**_ times!"

"Okay, okay I'm sorry, but you have to admit this is a game-changer!" She exclaimed beside me. "I mean… _**wow**_. Just _**wow**_. And you fought off _**three**_ guys for her?! Holy fucking shit dude! I mean... of all the people in this school... **You **ended up saving _**her**_. Shit dude. That's gotta mean _something_. I don't know what, fate, luck, the gods, whatever, but that can't be coincidence."

"So what do I do?" It felt great to finally say that out loud. In front of someone else, I mean, instead of in front of a mirror.

She nodded her head solemnly. "You were right to come to me for help."

"I didn't come to you." I reminded her, "You just happened to be the first person I came across today. Well, aside from my mom, but she has enough on her plate already."

"Potato-Potatoh. The point is, I'm obviously the best person for the job. I'm like the love expert or something, _**and **_I know the new Annabeth pretty well if I do say so myself."

I rolled my eyes. "Fine, yes, whatever. If I ever find myself in this bizarre situation _**again**_, somehow, I'll go to you."

"All right, I just wanted to make sure we're on the same page here."

I pinched the bridge of my nose. "So? What do I do now?"

She bit her lip. "I mean, we have to tread lightly here. On the one hand, I _**do **_see what you mean. There are a lot of variables like you've mentioned before. The rational in me has to admit, there is a very real chance you rescuing her has clouded some of her judgment. On the other hand, the romantic in me just wants you two to be happy. And I really do believe you're good for each other. I just don't want you to miss the opportunity of telling her how you feel and regret it forever."

I looked down at my shoes. "But what if... What if I regret telling her more?"

She shook her head. "It's possible, but... We usually regret the things we didn't do more than the things we did do. I guess it all boils down to this: do you think it's worth it? _**She's**_ worth it? Because if it's important enough to you, you'll find a way. If it isn't, you'll find an excuse."

I bit my lip. "It's not going to be easy."

She bumped my shoulders with hers and smiled when I looked up at her. "I know. It's hard and it's scary. The truth is... Nothing worth having is ever easy. All the best things in life are the result of pain. But in the end, that's what makes the good things so very great. That's what makes it all worth the struggle."

I looked ahead and cracked a smile. "When did you become so wise?"

She tapped her head. "I told you, I'm the love expert. And I think, maybe, just maybe, in your heart, you already know what to do. Now you just have to convince your mind."

I sighed. Dammit, she had a point there. Was Annabeth worth it? I closed my eyes and thought about it. I mean _really _thought about it...

"Fuck..." I muttered.

"Well?" Piper asked me with a knowing look.

"It's her," I admitted softly. "I... I always think about her before I fall asleep. And I don't actually regret making any of the memories I have with her, even if they hurt sometimes. The words she said, the way she looks, the things we laughed about, the silent moments we shared... I don't regret **any **of it. And when I dream, I dream of her, because it's her. Maybe I don't know, I _**can't**_ know, what my future looks like but I pray to the gods she'll still be in it."

She grinned. "That's the spirit!"

"Oh, my gods. I... I'm going to do this. I'm really going to do this, aren't I?"

"I think you are, yeah." She answered excitedly.

I shook my head. "Ohh, gods. I was not prepared for this. Oh, gods... What am I going to say? When am I going to say whatever I'm going to say? What is she going to say after I say whatever it is I'm going to say?! What am _I_ going to say after that?! There's so much to think about! Too much."

"Shh shh, shut the fuck up. It'll be all right Perce, as long as you don't overthink it. Just speak from the heart and tell her how you feel. Or tell her what you just told me, that was perfect! As for when, I mean, don't do it during class. Or, you know, at school. You do_** not**_ need the attention."

"True true, that is a good point." I acknowledged. "So after school?"

"Seems like your best bet, yeah. Although if you have the chance any time before, take it. You'll know when the moment is right."

I remembered what Beckendorf told me, all I really needed was twenty seconds—twenty seconds of embarrassing bravery. I started to sweat at the thought of what I was planning to do. I was panicking. I was definitely panicking right now. "Oh, gods. That is so vague. I can't believe I'm actually going to do this. How the hell am I going to act normal around her before I do it?!"

She grabbed me by my arms and shook me. "You've got to calm down. For the love of the gods, calm the fuck down!"

She kept shaking until I spoke up. "Okay, okay, _okay._ I'm calm. I'm calm, you can let go of me now."

She let go but looked at me suspiciously. "We good?"

I nodded, taking in deep breaths. "We good."

"All right, here's what we're gonna do," Piper told me, "we're gonna go to class, act like we're paying attention, and mess around with our friends."

"So... the usual?"

"Bingo bango. It's imperative that you act like everything is totally normal or else they will get suspicious and interrogate you. You understand?"

"Yeah but... How do I act normal?"

She rubbed her chin. "That is a good question. You don't seem to be really good at that."

"Rude." I muttered.

She just ignored me. "Okay, here's an idea. If you get into trouble, any kind of trouble, just say the safeword and I'll pull out all the stops."

"What's the safe word?"

She thought about it for a while, before coming to a decision. "Surf's up."

I blinked. "Wait, what? Why... Why… Why 'Surf's up'? I mean for fuck's sake, how the hell am I supposed to casually use that in a sentence?!"

She rolled her eyes. "I don't know! That sounds like a you problem. Besides, it can't just be any old word like, I don't know…. Like 'Class' or something. It needs to be a word you'd never use in a normal conversation. How else am I supposed to know if you need me?"

I pinched the bridge of my nose. "Oh, my gods."

"What? Do you want my help or not?"

"Fine. Yes, I guess I still want your help. I'll just... figure it out. But what do I do when you're not there?"

"You'll be fine! Hopefully... Probably. Maybe."

"But—"

"Percy, we can spend all day finding faults with this plan, but we don't have the time for that. We have to go. We have Algebra I next, and Ms. Alecto already hates your guts." she reminded me, "As I said before, you'll be fine, okay? I believe in you. Just don't overthink it."

I sighed. "All right, all right. Let's get this day over with."

"Yep, that's the spirit of a hopeless romantic. Annabeth's a lucky girl."

"Shut up."

Piper and I made it to the next class with plenty of time to spare. Definitely, because we skipped the first period. Man, that is gonna bite me in the ass later. We chose seats in the back.

"Remember, be cool all right?" Piper reminded me.

"Yeah yeah, I know. And if I run into any trouble, I'll use the safe word."

"Which is...?"

"Oh Piper, please don't make me say it unless I absolutely have to."

"Come on."

"I really really really don't want to."

"Come on! Say it!"

I pinched the bridge of my nose before letting out a sigh and uttering the words I hope to never utter again. "Surf's up."

She grinned. "Man, I love my life. Not that I'm rooting for this but uh, I really hope you'll say it at some point today."

"What? That's horrible!"

She pouted with her full lips, and looked down in pretend shyness. How do I know it's pretend? Well, it's Piper. That girl doesn't have a shy bone in her body.

"Sorry, it's just... I never get to pull out all the stops."

I frowned. "Speaking of… What exactly is 'all the stops'?"

She winked. "That's for me to know, and for you to hopefully never find out."

"Oh, that's great. And here I was, worried you were going to be vague about it."

She just smirked. "I hope you're ready for this because..."

The bell rang, marking the end of the first period.

"...it's showtime."

"Oh, gods. Here we go."

-Line Break-

"So all things considered, I think that went pretty well." Piper concluded after class. We were on our way to homeroom, where the real test was about to begin seeing as how practically everyone was going to be there. "A couple of bumps here and there, sure, but also no safeword… Yet."

I shook my head. "You're really rooting for that safeword, aren't you?"

"I really am, yeah."

"Hey what do you guys keep talking about?" Grover asked us, eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"Cartoons." We both said at the same time. We shared a surprised look at how in sync we were. That was awesome. And also kind of disturbing, not gonna lie.

"Cartoons?" Travis repeated disbelievingly.

We nodded.

"You heard us right, cartoons." Piper affirmed.

"Mmhm, yep, cartoons." I agreed.

"What kind of cartoons?" Connor interrogated.

"Um… The animated kind?" I answered.

Travis facepalmed. "Yeah no, we got that. And we also know you guys are hiding something."

"What?" I squeaked out. "That's… Ridiculous. What would we be hiding?"

"Oh, I don't know… Maybe your whereabouts when you guys skipped the first period?" Grover accused. "Yeah, that's right, I was actually in class this time. Unlike you guys."

"Fuck." I muttered. I sent Piper a pleading look.

She just shrugged, meaning it's up to me to decide.

I could trust them, right? They're my friends. And maybe they could help me hide it? Besides, it wasn't any big secret, it was _**my**_ big secret.

I bit my lip. "Look, I really want to tell you guys, but… It's a long, and complicated story."

We entered the larger classroom, where there were large round desks. Homeroom was… A weird concept to me. To me, it seemed like a perfect blow off class. Teachers got a chance to get their administration in order, and we got a chance to chill out, with the possibility of an announcement being made here and there.

We sat down at our usual table, which was empty. I guess we were the first ones to arrive.

"Well then give us the short version." Connor reasoned.

I looked around, to see wether anyone was actually paying attention to us and leaned forward. "All right, but you guys have to promise me that what I'm about to tell you guys cannot, will not leave this table."

The guys leaned in, eyes wide.

"We promise." Grover vowed.

I took a deep breath and paused for a couple of seconds to collect my thoughts. "Okay. So. Short version. It's like this. Turns out, I do like Annabeth after all."

The guys all dropped their jaws.

"What?!" They all yelled.

Piper and I shushed them immediately and looked around. Huh, no one looked at us. Nice.

"Are you kidding me right now dude?" Grover exclaimed.

"Yeah, you said you _didn't _like her! What gives?!" Connor reminded me.

"I know what I said, but… It's a long and complicated story that I really cannot go into right now. It took Piper almost all of first period to process."

"You told Piper before you told us?!" Travis said, looking offended as hell.

"Um…"

"Dude!"

"I'm sorry! I was panicking and she was the first person I came across." I explained.

Grover sighed. "Fine, we'll ignore that issue, _for now_. But only because we have bigger fish to fry. Like the fact that you **do **like Annabeth after all."

Piper coughed. "Believe me dude, there is so much more to that story, but too little time to get into it. Oh btw, the safeword is Surf's up. Remember all hands on deck, when you hear 'Surf's up', all right?"

The guys narrowed their eyes.

"Hey Perce, what is she talking about?" Connor asked.

I cleared my throat, hoping the rest of our group would arrive any second now.

"Percy?" Grover asked in a warning tone.

"I may or may not… be planning to… confess. After school." I mumbled out, but the guys heard me perfectly.

"**What**?!" The guys yelled out.

"Guys!" I hissed. "We're at _school_, so calm the fuck down."

Grover shook his head. "Nope. Nuh-uh. This is big. This is really big."

"It's huge!" Travis muttered.

"Really really big."

"Really huge!"

"Can you guys please stop that?" I hissed.

"Oh, my gods. Are you for real going to confess?" Connor asked.

I bit my lip. "Yeah, but she can't find out about it, so I need you guys to be calm. Think you can handle that?"

Before they could answer, everyone else started to arrive.

"Hey, guys." Annabeth greeted us with a dazzling smile.

We all shook.

"Nothing!" Travis yelped, eyes wide with panic.

I pinched the bridge of my nose, while Piper just shook her head in disappointment.

"What?" Annabeth asked, understandably confused by his outburst.

"Nothing." Travis repeated more calmly after clearing his throat.

Connor nodded his head solemnly. "Why yes brother, I too heard… nothing. Not a single thing, not even: a peep."

"Quite peculiar really, if you ponder about it. Certainly, I will ruminate over the possible implications of the aforementioned lack of sound once I get the chance to in a solitary moment."

"It is indeed food for thought or, better yet, mental nourishment. One simply would not expect such a state of serenity, or as the Greeks would put it, _ataraxis_, in a high school of all places."

"So very true. One would think that a collective of hormone-addled teenagers in one space would at the very least produce a murmur, a buzz, a susurrus, something of that nature."

"That being said, upon a closer look, there is a certain unvoiced tension in the air, a certain expectation if you will, that is quasi-palpable and infinitely interesting."

"Truer words have never been spoken, brother. Although that would imply that the previously assumed state of ataraxis is, in fact, fallacious."

Piper and I just stared at them in disbelief. Since when did they know how to use such… big formal words? I mean, ruminate? Aforementioned? _Ataraxis_? _Susurrus_? _**Quasi-palpable**_? **Fallacious**?! I barely knew what any of those words meant, even with the context, and I could tell from Piper's identical expression that she was thinking the same thing. Who the hell were these guys, and what did they do with the Stoll twins?

"… Um, okay? Why… Why are you guys speaking like that?" Annabeth wondered, setting her stuff down across from me. Lovely. Just… lovely.

"Whatever do you mean?" Connor asked her with overexaggerated hand gestures. "Is this not our customary way of speaking?"

"Uh, no, no it is not. Quite the opposite really."

"Then I suppose this is a surprising turn of events, for all of us." Travis commented. "However, it is important that you comprehend that our current unaccostemed way of speaking is completely arbitrary."

Connor nodded his head profusely. "Indeed, it is completely unplanned, and definitely has nothing to do with anyone present."

Travis sent a wink my way, as if to reassure me, but if I'm being honest I felt anything but reassured at the moment. Quite the opposite really. Although, not gonna lie, it's kind of impressive how vast their vocabulary was.

Annabeth leaned over to the left, closer to Grover and asked him, "Is it just me or do they keep getting weirder and weirder?"

Grover shook his head in an overexaggerated manner, his eyes shifting from one object to another, while the rest of him was drenched in sweat. "Nope. Nuh-uh. This is normal. This is really normal. Really really normal."

"Oh, my gods." I muttered to myself. Betweent the Stoll twins suddenly sounding like pretentious academics and Grover looking both guilty as well as suspicious as hell, I realized this might've been a mistake after all. "Kill me, kill me now."

Piper cleared her throat, sending each of us a pointed look. "If you think they're weird now, imagine having to deal with their weirdness first thing in the morning."

Annabeth sent her a sympathetic look. "I don't know how you do it, Piper, I really don't."

"Lots of coffee, Annabeth, lots of coffee."

"We're not _that_ bad," I muttered weakly, because… Well, right now her assessment was on point.

Piper ruffled my hair. "Well, you've got your moments."

"Well, well, well indeed. What exactly am I witnessing here?" Leo asked with a smirk. He sat down beside me and wiggled his eyebrows.

"Yes, what is he witnessing here?" Annabeth repeated, eyes narrow.

"Nothing?" Travis squeaked, his voice rising with each letter he uttered.

"Oh dear god, not again." Piper muttered, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"Hey I just got here," Katie announced, "So could you guys fill me in? Why is Travis talking in his weird secret-keeping voice?"

Travis looked offended at that comment, while Connor just shook his head in disappointment.

"I do _not_ have a 'weird secret-keeping voice'!" Travis pointed out, affronted by the very idea.

Katie and Connor shared a glance, that all but screamed a sarcastic '_Yeah, right._', before she nodded her head sympathetically. "Travis, honey… Yeah, you do."

"She's right bro. You've got such an obvious tell, I'm surprised we ever get away with anything." Connor confessed.

"Et tu, brother?" Travis wailed dramatically.

"Is it just me or do they keep getting weirder and weirder?" Katie wondered.

Annabeth shook her head. "I don't know. They're all acting strange today."

"Like they have something to hide," Leo commented.

Katie's eyes widened. "What? What would they have to hide?"

Travis shook his head. "Nothing! Absolutely nothing!"

Katie narrowed her eyes as she sat across from him. I wanted to disappear right now, why did Travis have to have such an obvious tell?!

"Yeah, you guys are reading way too much into this," Connor said with a scoff, apparently done with using formal language.

"Mhmm, no secrets here ma'm," I announced, wincing at the last part. Why on earth would I say ma'm?

"Yup. Uh-huh. This is normal. This is really normal. Really really normal." Grover repeated. I shook my head, it seems like that was all he could say.

Piper just pinched the bridge of her nose in exasperation. "Gods, idiots."

"Is it just me or is the energy really weird right now?" Nico wondered after he set his stuff down between Katie and Leo. Oh, gods, more and more people were arriving by the second and it was already bad. The worst part was that we weren't even close to being in the clear yet, class literally just started. And then there was lunch to think about.

Shit.

"Yeah, I'm with Nico on that," Jason agreed. He chose to sit between Grover and Annabeth, "The energy now is weirder than yesterday, which I didn't even think was possible."

"Speaking of which, how was yesterday?" Nico asked, mostly the Stoll twins.

"Why are you looking at us like that?" Travis wondered.

"You know why!"

"No, if I did know why I wouldn't have asked."

"Duh," Connor added, rolling his eyes.

Nico narrowed his eyes. "Are you guys messing with me?"

The Stolls shared a panicked look before deciding something. They broke out in grins.

"Aw damn! You got us! We were totally messing with you dude." Connor 'confessed'.

Travis hit his head. "Of course, I know _why_. I mean, obviously, that's why we were acting so weird."

Grover's eyes widened. "Yeah yeah, and they roped me into this _hence_ the weird behavior and speech patterns such as my current weird behavior and speech pattern. It all checks out."

I just buried my head in my hands.

Nico smirked. "I knew it! I absolutely knew it! Nice try guys but nothing gets past me. This brain cannot, will not, be washed."

"So that's why you've all been acting weird?" Annabeth doubted skeptically.

All the guys nodded their heads eagerly.

"Yep."

"Duh."

"Definitely!"

"Percy? Seriously? You were in on this too?" Annabeth asked, still a little skeptical.

I let out a sigh before looking up; Piper was smirking, obviously enjoying the show, Grover, Travis, and Connor were urging me to nod and/or say yes, while everyone else just looked at us in confusion, wondering what the hell was going on.

"I mean, do you have a better explanation for… this?" I wondered sarcastically. "If so, let me know, because I honestly cannot think of one."

"I guess it makes sense, right?" Frank commented awkwardly, breaking off the silent stare contest Annabeth and I was in.

"I suppose." Annabeth conceded.

I smirked. "Thanks, Frank. And thank you Annabeth."

She just flipped me off in return, making everyone chuckle at our antics.

"Now that we finally got that out of the way," Frank said, putting his arm around a beautiful darker-skinned girl beside him, "guys I'd like you to meet Hazel, my lady, my love, and apparently Nico's half-sister?"

She smiled shyly and waved. "Hi, it's nice to meet Nico's friends."

Grover, the Stoll twins and I stared at Nico, who looked like he wanted to disappear. "You have a half-sister?"

Nico cleared his throat. "Um, yeah. You guys didn't know?"

Connor pointed to his own shocked expression "Right, tell me, does this look like someone who was in the know?"

And then Travis pointed at his identical shocked expression. "Or this?"

"I don't get it, it's the same expression?" Hazel whispered to Frank.

He just shrugged. "To be honest, they've been acting weird this whole time, but I don't know them well enough to know wether that's normal for them."

"Same." Jason added.

Nico sighed. "Fine, I was getting around to it. You guys remember the family dinner I had to go to yesterday? Well, that's where my dad announced…"

I shared a smile with Piper during Nico's story and fist-bumped her. The guys were distracting the attention away from me. I'm glad I told them. This was going so well!

Little did I know, Annabeth was observing me, _us_, the whole time.

-Line Break-

"So wait, what did you see that made you act so weird?" Bianca asked Frank during lunch.

Homeroom passed by in a blur, as did English and (thankfully so did) Geometry. Grover and the Stoll twins disapperead after they realized they probably wouldn't have been able to keep my secret from everyone. Lucky bastards. It would've been hella suspicious if I joined them as well, and I obviously couldn't anyway because of my confession, but gods. I really wished I did.

Frank started blushing at the memory, and sadly so did Annabeth and I.

"Um… Well… I uh… That's um…" Frank stammered, "Nothing?"

Bianca's eyes narrowed. "Then why are you blushing?"

Frank sent me a pleading look, and muttered the word 'help'. Dammit, I gotta help him out.

I cleared my throat. "Bi, that's just how Frank is. He's uh, he's a weird a guy."

"But a great one too!" Piper added.

Now Piper and I were subjected to Bianca's calculating gaze, and I had to admit, it wasn't something I wanted to experience again any time soon.

"If nothing weird happened, then why the hell are you and Annabeth blushing?" She pointed out. "Yeah, that's right, I noticed." She commented smugly when she saw both Annabeth's and my eyes widen.

"Yes, I would also like to know what happened." Nico added, smirking at our, _my_, obvious discomfort.

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "There's nothing to tell Di Angelos."

Jason and Leo groaned.

"Aw come on, that's obviously not true!" Leo whined.

Annabeth shrugged. "I don't know what to tell you guys."

"Uh, how about the truth?" Jason suggested sarcastically.

"Can't you guys just let it go?" Frank pleaded.

"No! Something happened, and we want to know what!" Leo demanded.

Katie nodded. "Yeah, any normal person would."

"That's not true! Piper seemed to have been able to let it go." Frank argued. "Why can't you guys?"

Jason frowned. "Yeah, now that you mention it, she did seem to let it go… And that is really weird and suspicious."

Leo frowned as well now, turning towards an innocent looking Piper. "Actually, yeah, that is weird. Normally you'd be itching to know the details like the rest of us."

Annabeth's eyes narrowed. "Yeah you would be pestering us as well… Hell, you'd be the worst out of all of them."

"And you and Percy seem to be closer." Nico noted.

Piper scoffed. "Wow, okay, I finally decide to be merciful and this is what I get in return? A witch hunt?"

"Yeah guys, Piper's just being nice." I said defensively.

"That's just it, Piper is never 'just being nice'." Jason muttered.

Piper just flipped him off. "Fuck off, I can be nice when I want to."

"You've never wanted to though." Hazel pointed out.

"Hazel!" Piper exclaimed, "That's not true."

Frank frowned. "No no, she's got a point there."

"Well of course _you'd _think so, you're totally whipped."

"Yup, loud and proud. But we already knew that. Stop trying to change the subject."

She and I shared a look.

"Ah-ha! I saw that!" Katie announced.

"Fuck." I muttered.

"We've been going about this all wrong." Bianca commented. Thank gods it seemed to be over. "_Obviously_ Percy's the one to go after. He's more likely to talk than Piper." She pointed out.

Yep. That seems about right. I sighed, honestly I'm not even surprised anymore.

All eyes turned on me.

Fuck.

Fuck fuck fuck.

"So? What is the meaning of all of this?" Annabeth asked, effectively trapping me in this verbal cage.

Oh gods. This was it. The beginning of the end.

This was exactly what Piper was waiting for, and she knew it. She absolutely knew it. She had this manic glint in her eyes, and a victorious smirk where her lips should be. All cards on the table, I wouldn't be shocked if she planned all of this somehow. She really wanted this to happen.

I closed my eyes and took a deep shuddering breath in preparation but… There weren't enough breaths in the world to prepare me for this.

"So, u hI guess what all of this means is… Surf's up." I whispered, knowing I'd regret it.

Annabeth looked confused. "What?"

Nico frowned and started cleaning out his ear. "Am I going deaf or did he just… Did he seriously just say… _Surf's up_? What? What does that even mean?"

Piper smirked. "Ohh, he said it. He definitely said it, didn't he?"

"Um… I think so?" Hazel answered uncertainly.

"This is the best day of my life." Piper decided.

"I'm so confused." Leo commented.

Then she pulled out all the stops. And with that I mean…

She proceeded to slap me.

Hard.

I held my cheek after letting out a surprised and pained groan and looked at Piper imploringly. "Fuck! Seriously?! _That's _pulling out all the stops?! Fucking slapping me? That's all you got? For gods' sake Piper, how is _that _pulling out all the stops?!"

She shrugged, not even bothering to hide her grin. "No, but when else will I be able to slap someone as hard as I can, consequence-free? When an opportunity such as that one presents itself to you, you motherfucking take it dude."

"Nope, staying quiet and listening did not help at all. Now I'm even more confused." Leo muttered, a horrified look on his face. "Oh my gods, you guys are planning something without me!"

"_That's _pulling out all the stops." Piper announced, pointing at something, _someone_, behind me.

I turned around, and was met by a grumpy looking Luke. He looked up, as if to ask the gods how on gaia he got here, and why the hades they didn't stop it from happening. "I…" He started with a sigh, obviously struggling with speaking to me in a polite tone, "If you all wouldn't mind, I… Need to speak with… Percy." He all but spat my name out, with great difficulty.

I blinked, very much confused by what the hades was happening right now. When… How did Piper manage… _this_?!

"Um… Really? You sure? **You**? And… and me? Alone? Really?"

Luke clenched his jaw, as if what he was doing was physically hurting him. "Yes, quite sure… _Piper_ pointed out how I acted… _uncouthly_ at Leo's party, and how I have to make… Ugh… amends. Or whatever."

I shot Piper a surprised and slightly fearful look. How…. Just how did she manage to get _Luke _of all people to save me right now?

She smirked and winked in return. I mean… Her plan definitely worked. No one was paying attention to us right now, everyone was absolutely captivated by Luke, and his obvious discomfort. Even Annabeth seemed to have forgotten what we were talking about. _**Annabeth**_.

While every fiber of my very being was screaming at me to run, _run_,away from Luke, I decided to trust Piper. I grabbed my things and stood up. "You know what? Fuck it. Yeah, let's do this thing."

I put my arm round Luke's shoulder and grinned, doing the absolute opposite of what I wanted to, and winked at my friends. "As much as I'd _love_ to finish this convo, and trust me when I say I hate to say this but uh, duty calls."

Piper grabbed her stuff with a smirk and stood up. "Excellent. Let's get this over with."

"Wait, why are you joining them?" Annabeth asked her.

Piper stared at her incredulously. "You're kidding me, right? It's Percy and Luke, someone has to be there, cause well… who knows how this will go."

And off we went I guess.

Surf's up man, Surf's up.

-Line Break-

Once we were in the field outside of the school, near the bleachers, Luke shrugged off my arm and glared at both Piper and me.

"There, I did what you asked. _Now_ we're even, all right McLean?" He growled out.

Piper just grinned in return. "A deal's a deal I suppose, pleasure doing business with you Castellan."

Luke rolled his eyes when he looked at me. "Still don't know why you guys go through all this trouble for… _him_." The distatste he had for me was almost palpable at this point.

I scoffed. "Maybe cause I'm not so fucking rude all the goddamn time."

"Oh right, and that just oozed politeness there didn't it? Oozed it all over the place."

"Ew, dude why would you say it like _that_? And besides, **you** started it!"

"Wha-? Me? Nuh-uh."

I snorted. "Really? You wanna go there? Cause I'll go there buddy boy. _Yah-uh_."

"Nuh-uh!"

"Yah-uh!"

He glared. "You really do not want to start this with me. I can go all. day. long."

I glared right back at him. "Oh yeah? Well so. can. I."

"I've got no one to see, and nowhere to be."

"Oh, and you think I do? Please, I practically _invented_ social awkwardness."

"You wish!"

"Oh that's rich, coming from the golden boy of the school!"

"How dare you! I am NOT the golden boy, everyone knows Jason Grace is."

"Sure, sure, sure sure sure, but you're not exactly on the lower end of the social ladder now are you?"

"Well I'm not that high on it either!"

I scoffed. "Do you even hear yourself? You're popular, Luke, you've always been popular ever since middle school deal with it."

He was about to retort, when I saw him frown in confusion. "What do you mean with that? How could you have possibly known whether or not I was popular in middle school?"

"Uh, well… I mean I assume so, based off of current events. Yeah…"

My eyes widened, and my mind went into full on panic mode. I did not just reveal a secret I was desperately hiding from most of my other friends friends to _Luke _hates-my-guts-and-everything-else-about-me Castellan. Nope. Nope, nope, nope. I sent Piper a pleading look, hoping she'd have some magical way to help me out. She rolled her eyes and muttered something about… baby seals? I think?

"You guys do realize that this fight is completely pointless, right?" Piper pointed out.

Luke cleared his throat and turned away from us, trying to hide his blush. "Whatever, fuck this. I don't care what any of you think. _Fuck_ **you**. I'm audi 5000 bitches."

And then he started to walk away.

"Thanks again for helping us!" Piper yelled after him.

He just flipped us off in return, not even turning around to spare us a glance. But even from this far away, I could see that the tips of his ears were still red as a fire truck. Maybe he wasn't as bad as I initially thought he was.

"He can be so cute when he's trying to act tough." Piper commented.

"Cute wasn't the first word that came to mind, but yeah, sure." I muttered.

"You know, I actually think you guys could get along."

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah sure, maybe once he finally decides to stop being a—" I saw the pointed look Piper sent my way, and decided to finish my sentence in a different manner, "—a mean guy."

"Don't judge him too hard, love can make a dude do crazy things."

"No hey yeah, I'm all for crazy things. But I draw the line at mean. If you're doing crazy mean things, it ain't for love. Or at least, not the kind of love I'm all about."

"#im14andthisisdeep." Piper coughed out.

I grinned, I mean… She wasn't wrong. Gods, I'm glad I confided in her. "Point taken. So now what do we do?"

She sighed. "You won't last until the end of the day, will you?"

"Probably not, no." I admitted sheepishly.

She bit her lip. "Okay, that's fine, totally fine… There's one other thing we can do, well, _you _can do. Don't worry, it's not too late to cancel it."

"That's great! Whatever it is, I'll do it."

"Perfect, because it's too late to cancel it now."

"What do you mean? You just said it's not too late to cancel?"

"Yeah… I lied." She grabbed me by the shoulders and turned me around.

Oh.

Oh fuck.

It was Annabeth. I guess she followed us out to the field.

Piper squeezed my shoulders comfortingly and whispered, "Go get her buddy!"

Panic seized my heart, my head, and… everything else. I grabbed Piper by her sleeve, interrupting her escape in the process. "Wait." I hissed. "You can't leave me! I… I'm not ready yet!"

"Well you better get ready, because she's almost here. And she looks determined, so you probably won't be able to run away. Plus, it'd be infinitely more awkward if I stay. You'll be fine dude, just be honest with her, and I promise you'll feel so much better afterwards. So, as the great Luke Castellan elegantly put it: I'm audi 5000 bitches."

And then she left me. That bitch. Gods bless her for helping me though.

The seconds it took Annabeth to reach me both stretched out at times, and went by in a flash. I was frozen in place, I couldn't think, I couldn't talk, I couldn't do anything but stare. She was so absolutely beautiful, she set my frozen heart ablaze. It made no sense, I mean, I've seen beautiful people before and yet… None of them left me as speechless as this girl right here.

She stopped in front of me, and suddenly that beautifully determined look she wore disappeared, doubt creeping in her mind, making her wonder what on gaia she was even doing here.

"I—" she started, before sighing. "I don't know why I came here."

I bit my lip, wondering what I should say. Would it be too abrubt if I confessed right now? Probably right?

"Well, I'm glad you're here." I admitted, feeling my face heat up at the mini-confession.

"You are?" She asked coming just a little closer to me, pink dusting her cheeks as well.

"Yeah, I uh, I kind of like it when you're around."

"Really?"

She bit her lip, not that far away from me anymore. I could probably steal a kiss if I really wanted to, and get away with it too. Wait. What?

I cleared my throat, hoping that would somehow also clear my mind, to no avail. "I mean, yeah, we're friends."

She frowned for a just a second, I wondered if I might've imagined it. "Right, friends."

I took a deep, calming breath, gathering all of my courage in the proces— twenty seconds, that's all I needed. I could do this. I could totally do this.

"Actually, there's something I wanted to say—" I started, rubbing the back of my head, when her phone started ringing. Jesus, her phone just had the worst timing ever.

She sent me an apologetic glance. "I'm so sorry, you were saying?"

"You're not going to get that?"

She sighed with a frown. "I probably should, huh?"

I grinned. "I can wait a couple of minutes."

She grabbed her phone, and right there in bright white letters the name '_Malcolm_' flashed, which, you know, would've been fine, if it weren't for the fact that there was also a heart beside his name. Oh, my fucking gods. Not again.

I actually heard my heart break in that moment.

She has a boyfriend.

Of course she did.

What the hades was I thinking?!

My vision blurred, my ears started ringing and I couldn't focus on anything else but one thought running through my mind, namely, that I was well and truly a fucking idiot. I should've just stayed at home today.

_Of course _she has a boyfriend.

Idiot. _Idiot_, _**idiot**_, _**idiot**_.

"—Percy? Percy?" Annabeth repeated continuously, grabbing me by the shoulders, effectively bringing me back to earth.

"Huh?"

She looked so concerned, I almost forgot she had a boyfriend. Almost. Of course she was concerned, I was her _friend._ Nothing more, but… also nothing less. I steeled myself. Fine. If friends is all we can be, then friends is all we will be. Forget confessing, forget kissing her, forget it all. I mean, she didn't seem to have any problems forgetting about me. Two can play at that game.

"Are you okay?"

I mustered the best smile I could in that moment, hoping it would convince her that I'm fine. Because I am. Totally and completely fine. In fact, I'm happy for her. Yeah, so happy I wanted to celebrate on my own.

"Yeah, of course I am. Why wouldn't I be?"

She frowed, not completely convinced. "If you say so… What did you want to tell me?"

"Hm?"

"You said there was something you wanted to say." She reminded me.

"Oh, right, that. Um, I just wanted to say that… I uh, I was just wondering…. if you um, if you could tutor me sometime?" I improvised on the spot. "You know… Cause you're like… super smart, and uh, well… I'm… not." Not bad, probably because I should probably get a tutor. Although… Fuck. I dunno if I could handle spending more time with her right now. I had some wounds that needed to heal.

She smiled, and all I could think was how unfair it all was. I mean, seriously? Why'd I have to find out about her boyfriend, right before my confession? She could've mentioned it or something. Hell, I don't know why _Piper_ didn't tell me either. How fucked up is that? Egging someone on, knowing they'd get their heart broken?! Jesus Christ, Leo was right. She's really mean. And I'm an idiot for falling for her, _again_. Gods, when will I learn my lesson?

"Yeah, of course! I'd love to tutor you!" She said excitedly.

I bit my lip and looked down at my shoes, hating what I would have to say next. "Um… I won't uh, I won't be able to pay you much though."

She scoffed and looked at me as if I just said something stupid. Ha, joke's on her, I _almost_ said something stupid— really, really stupid.

"You really are a Seaweed Brain. I'm not going to charge you!"

I blinked. "You're not?"

She shook her head, and smiled at me. "Percy, you're my _friend_. If you need my help, all you've got to do is ask and I'm there."

I felt a smile tugging at my lips— a more genuine one this time. After all this time, she… She was still amazing. "Thanks a lot… Wise Girl."

She smirked. "Anytime Seaweed Brain."

Yeah, this was fine. Maybe not what I wanted but, definitely what I needed right now.

I heard the bell ring, signaling the end of our lunch period.

Annabeth held out her hand, "You coming?"

A big part of me really wanted to grab her hand, just because it would probably be the closest I'd ever get to holding hands with her, which gods. That's such a sad thought. But I didn't, I _couldn't_, I needed some time alone, school be damned.

I gave her one of my (as many a teachers have described it) troublemaker smirk, and took out my packet of cigarettes. "Nah you go on ahead. I wanna push my luck, and see if I can smoke one of these before the tardy bell." To punctuate my point, I grabbed one and lit it up.

She hesitated, just for a second, before shaking her head and giving me an incredulous smile. "Seaweed Brain." She said, almost _fondly_, and then she ran.

And once she was gone, I finally let myself drop onto the bleachers, absolutely exhausted from keeping it in. I should probably go to bed. I felt myself break apart with every puff, paralysed in place by, gods, take your pick: pain, heartbreak, sadness...

Idiot.

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**So... My guesstimation was wayy off. It's definitely past July... I think I'll just... Stop giving you guys hope like that. I dunno what to tell you, I'm kind of disappointed with myself as well. I've been sitting on this chapter for _a while_. I had so much written already, but I just... I got stuck. And for that, I apologize. I hope the extra long chapter makes up for it, even a little bit. For anyone who cares, I did pass all of my exams, so this temporary hiatus wasn't done in vain. Altho I guess that's only really comforting to me...**

**Enough about myself, that's not why you're here. You want to know why the hell I'm prolonging Percy's misery. What can I say? Misunderstanding, it's practically a tradition with any story involving drama, and I'm a little evil like that. Just to make it super duper extra clear tho: Annabeth isn't dating Malcolm, because... Ew. Nope. Nope, nope, nope. I'm having none of that in my fanfic, sorry to anyone who's into that, but um... Nope. I know as the author, I kind of have freedom in that regard, and even if I were to introduce an OC, he sure as hell wouldn't be named _Malcolm _(not that there's anything wrong with the name ofc xD). I just reallyy want to make that clear. Read what you wanna read, but this ain't one of _those_ stories. Sorry :/  
**

**As for when the next chapter will be coming out... Your guess is as good as mine. Like I previously mentioned, I don't wanna give you guys false hope. All I can do right now, is guarantee that it's coming out... Someday. I'm really sorry I'm not a reliable author, I'll do my best to work on it! so yeah, that's all I really wanted to say. I hope you liked the chapter, let me know what worked for you and what didn't. Who knows, maybe I'll be more motivated if there were more reviews... Kidding! XD Knowing me, all that would do is quadruple my guilt.**

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**MapleRose150: Dude, lmao yesss XD Thanks for the cookie, and especially the pun. Gods, _dolphinately_... Yesssss. You're probably one of my favorite people on this site, just for the puns alone.**

**RandomFanAuthor: Dude, same, I think that paring is so cute. To be honest, nothing's really set in stone. Like, I didn't write this story because I wanted to write a Percabeth story per se, I just wanted to write a Percy Jackson high school AU, and sadly the best drama my unoriginal ass could think of is Percy liking a girl who might, or might not like him back, and well.. Annabeth was the most obvious choice. Is Percabeth endgame in this story? Could be. But, I mean, it's not set in stone. I never really know what happens next, until I sit down and actually start writing, which means I'm _always _open to suggestions ;) ****As for a sequel, probably not. I dunno what the sequel would be _about_, you know? If I do it right, there won't be a need for one (I hope).**

**Ravenhouse: Dude, thank you so so much! I'm glad you enjoy the writing, even more surprised you like the plot, because to be honest, it's my weakness. I'm not that great at thinking ahead... I dunno where I'm going with this story, and one of these days I will have to figure it out, because this ain't a manga or an anime. I probably wouldn't be able to get away with filling it with fillers. XD **

**Unknown Outlaw: Yooo, thanks for the review. It was just the push I needed to revisit this chapter. I mean, it wasn't instantaneous, but it was the push I needed. Who knows how long it would've taken me to get off my ass and actually write. So thanks dude! Glad you enjoy it :)**


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